SHAH ALAM: Rafales and MKIs. It appears that apart from Indian Air Force (IAF) Sukhoi Su-30MKIs, French Air Force (FAF) Rafales are also expected to visit Malaysia this year. Like the IAF, the FAF contingent is coming to Malaysia after taking part in the Exercise Pitch Black.
Pitch Black is a biennial three week multi-national large force employment exercise conducted from RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal. For 2018, the multinational air-combat exercise some 80 aircraft and personnel from 16 countries that will take place during three weeks in August.
An Indian Air Force Su-30MKI fighter aircraft lands at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, April 16, 2016. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua Turner)
Four Su-30MKIs and a C-17 airlifter are scheduled to take part in Pitch Black while the French participation will involved three Rafales, a single Airbus A400M and an Airbus A310 transporters as well as a single C-135FR Stratotanker.
Dassault has delivered 3 Rafales to Egypt. Dassault
Both contingents are expected to be in Malaysia in late August or early September though the exact dates are yet to be confirmed. Both are expected to be hosted at either Subang or Butterworth airbases, as Gong Kedak, the home of RMAF Sukhois is located at a rather austere location and do not have the facilities to accomodate a large number of foreign guests.
FAF deployment to Pitch Black. FAF
The deployment of the IAF to Malaysia was reported earlier this year, one of the few things that ex-PM Najib got right on military matters with India. The one on the MIG is wrong. Malaysian-Indian relationship are strong that if the so-called deal for our stored MIGs was true it would have happened by now.
French Air Force ninth A400M – MSN33. The first tactical configured A400M was delivered on June 12. Airbus DS
As for the FAF deployment to Malaysia the announcement was made yesterday. Apart from Malaysia, the FAF contingent will also visit Singapore, Indonesia and India as part of the deployment. The French deployment, code-named PEGASE 2018, will involve 90 French airmen and commandos along with 40 tons of technical and support equipment, Defense News reported.
Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster. Boeing
For the plane spotters, I will try to update the arrivals of both contingents, if possible, of course.
— Malaysian Defence
If you like this post, buy me an espresso. Paypal Payment
From the graphics; the french air force (Armée de l’Air – AdlA) will visit malaysia on its return leg of Pitch Black Exercise.
Ah I did miss out the after part in your 1st paragraph. So just ignore my 1st comment
Don’t see why the Frenchies are still trying to push Rafales to us. Don’t they read the news recently?
WTA, is it possible for our Migs to be upgraded via India instead? Definitely will cheaper than Russki and none of the recriminations.
Reply
They know this things take a long time. Good salesmen stay true to clients or potential clients in good and bad times. It won’t cause them any extra money as they were already flying in the region. Furthermore they need to seek new openings after they lost their main point man, no not Najib or H20 or even Big Mama. It was the Treasury guy. I think that was the deal the Indians was hoping for to upgrade our Migs not buy ours. Guess the PMO guys messed it up. Still some recriminations as some parts will still need to sourced from Russia as that’s how the Indians got their upgrades.
Okay. Now I understand.
But maybe they should have taken note that since the current administration had drilled into our heads that French weapons are synonymous with Najib (looking at Scorpene, Gowinds, LG G1, Thales gear & Rafales, I can’t say they’re wrong about that), therefore going the French route would certainly be… interesting.
About the sourcing parts from Russia, yeah too bad can’t run away from that. But maybe they can just stick a Made in India label over the Russki words, and no one would care. Just declare it as coming from India and all would live happily ever after & the Migs can soar again. What say you?
“I think that was the deal the Indians was hoping for to upgrade our Migs not buy ours”
Supposed if the new government accepts RMAF proposal to retire the MiGs instead of modernizing them, and RMAF is supposedly trying to look for buyers for the MiGs, with the IAF out of the picture, who will be the potential buyers then? It would be a shame to simply let these still usable assets rot away in storage and eventually sent to the scrapyard.
Btw, I think the French is going to have a really tough task trying to convince our new Finance Minister to entertain their sales pitch, if his track records in Penang is anything to go by… That “free Rafale joy ride for halfwit” trick is not going to work this time around, if I may say so…
Reply
I have no idea and do bear in mind that Russia may have a big say whether we can sell them or not.
I was talking about Irwan Serigar. He was already convinced before he got the joyride.
As whether or not the new guy will be easily convinced, you will never know until you try
off topic, any news on open house by TUDM?
Reply
More on this after Raya
An aside. On the maritime patrol craft. I hear Forestry Dept, Sarawak (FDS) Diamond DA42 MPP surveillance planes are undergoing trials with MAVCOM. There’s a wee bit of a hooha with PKR claiming the plane and equipment at RM35 million each is ‘over-priced’.
I believe the same plane’s used over Texas to police their long state border with Mexico. I did look uo the bird. The manufacturers claim it can stay airborne for more than 8 hours! Can’t say how the crew would feel cooped up in the small cabin!
Reply
Its only one aircraft. The particular aircraft won’t fly for eight hours on a single sortie it is supposed to fly around forest reserves and take pictures to spot illegal logging
@ taib
You don’t know what is included in the DA42 MPP cost.
That PKR guy See Chee How says that each DA42 MPP should cost only RM6.5 million. I would really want to buy one from him if he can sell me for that price. Ghana for example, bought 2 DA42 MPP for Euro11 million. So that is about RM25.8 million each.
That’s exactly my point. The PKR guy can’t see that a mission equipped plane will cost more than just the plane. Or that the package is plane, equipment, spares and training. Probably thinks its just like buying an Axis, just choose manual or auto! 😉
@Taib
From the news I read, they were assuming that it was a VIP plane for Sarawak officials. Lols!
@Joe,
shows many PH pooftas have got a steep learning curve when it comes to defense matters. Mr See of Kuching PKR is probably one of them 😏
Joe – ”Don’t see why the Frenchies are still trying to push Rafales to us.”
It’s for the same reason that sellers keep coming to DSA and LIMA [as well as other events worldwide] time after time despite knowing that a sale is not imminent. They fully realise that a sale takes time and building relationships, as well as brand awareness, plays a huge part.
kerberos – ” the French is going to have a really tough task trying to convince our new Finance Minister to entertain their sales pitch, if his track records in Penang is anything to go by”
But it’s not the Finance Minister who will have the final say ….
As I mentioned before, the present government includes people who have a anti pathetic view on defence but also individuals who have been involved in this sector as well [Anwar was present at the Fulcrum signing ceremony]. The thing to look out for is whether Mahathir will still base large contracts on political factors, as he has done in the past, to the detriment of the MAF or whether things will change.