KUALA LUMPUR: I know I maybe putting the cart before the horse, but I believed that the RMAF new MRCA programme will be tendered soon.
Why I am saying this? Well, for instance the Boeing people visited Putrajaya recently and sounded very confident. And among the insiders, the Super Hornets are the shoe-in to win tender.
Nonetheless, this hasnt stopped the rest of the gang to try their luck. The Dassault people I am told is visiting Malaysia before the New Year although the Rafale is a very long shot for the tender.
As does the Gripen and the Eurofighter.
Yes, the Brits would want us to take 24 planes from them on a lease basis, but it remained a true long shot just like the Rafale , notably for their high prices and support cost. The Typhoon reportedly cost around USD130 million while the Rafale around USD150 to USD170 million, depending on who you asked.
It will be cheaper to lease the Typhoons but support and long term maintenance cost will remain high.
The Gripen, which the Thai has added another six is the cheapest at around USD60 million to USD80 million with the Super Hornets price hovering around USD120 million.
Personally I would prefer the F35s (around USD130 million) but then this is again beyond my pay scale to make such recommendation.
When exactly will the tender be issued? Perhaps after the 13th GE, which is rumoured to be soon and if the present government is returned to power. If there is a change of government all bets are off of course.
How many Super Hornets then? As Kamal had pointed out probably not more than 10.
And why are we talking about buying new planes when we cannot even properly fund the current fleet? My guess is as good as yours….
–Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (71)
Pure speculation on my part but I would guess that the RTAF's selection of the Gripen will probably play a part in the government's decision. Other factors will be the improving relations with Uncle Sam and the fact that this country has stronger diplomatic, trade and defence relations with the U.S. rather than Sweden. As we all know, the government loves ''transfers of technology'' and ''industrial offsets'' and Boeing is certainly in a far better position to offer more than Saab [whether and how exactly these so called ''transfers of technology'' annd ''offsets'' have benefited Malaysia is another story] Saab on the other hand has something Boeing can't offer or counter, a Gripen/Eriye package.
Maybe, we should sell our darn Hornet and buy the Super Hornet through a buy-back package from Boeing. Perhaps that's the best for us. Personally, I think we need at least 18 Super Hornet to form an adequate squadron with at least 3-fighter in a flight capability. Anyway, I truly understand that we have no money for this so better we sell off our MIGs to the Russian as a buy-back package for us to buy another 6 MKMs to form 2 squadron of the MKMs.
If Boeing can show that the Super Hornets deal can benefit the Economic Transformation Programme, then they will have a chance.The Government is looking for innovative and creative ideas to move Malaysia to high-income economy by 2020.Can Boeing offer such counter trade/offset programmes?It would be interesting to know what Boeing has to offer.
Why bother getting new 4th gen planes now when in 5years time 5th gen fighters will be in production?
And getting MRCA that is less capable but more expensive (gripen 60-80Mil, when MKM's 50Mil, and that was when our currency exchange was way weaker) than our superb SU-30MKM makes no sense...
If we really need more fighters, get some used ones now... Or additional MKM's.
my bet is the tender will officially come out in 2012, and the actual contract signed by 2015.
Assuming by that time the budget deficit is controlled to the magic no 3% of GDP and GDP grew by at least 6% yo yo from now till 2015, credit to fund such purchase should be comfortably available
Marhalim: And Najib remained the PM...
Well have a lot of option. perhap we can joint the South korean and indonesian joint developt KF-X, swedish improved gripen ng or russian-indian T-50 maybe instead of others, as long our gov n mindef got budget.
And i tend to agree with marhalim, unless we had a major disagreement with the US, SH seems a good bet to win this tender.Even if the opposition win the election, i believe Boeing will still have a good chance due to the near perfect record and hassle free of the hornet D. I think RMAF already called for upgrading of the EW and weaponry suite of the F18D last year right to include the Aim 9X and AIM120 C-7 i think. So makes sense to go for the SH
Yes I agree with you. The question to ask is which project is more critical to Malaysia?. Should not our force be made more effective and efficinet by buying force multiplier assets like the Airborne Early Warning and Control assets like the newly designed wedgetails of Australi, and other similar products like the Erieye. Also, Malaysia actually lacks a fast , mobile maritime patrol capabilities. While ships can have the staying power and the armaments, only aeroplanes will be able to transit and reach a boiling point in a matter of hours. Thus we should conseder some new Boeing 737's or even refurbished or second hand P3's equipend with radar, anti surface and submarine weapons, electronic intelligence and infra red and laser sensors.
We should service the MIG 29, the existing hornets and the Fulcrums with great care and this will be sufficient for the time being. If we are to proceed with purely equiping with fighter/interdiction assets the force would not be well balanced
If budget is the issue, stick with the MKMs, trade the Migs and get the additional 6 MKMs, the Russian will be more than happy plus they accept our commodity barter trade unlike the US.
As for the Hornet's, what is the big huu haa about it? It's capability? Naaaah, Eagle's perform way better than those SH by comparison and the SH have been around for years but only the RAAF is their export customer then again, why do the RMAF favor the SH? To ease logistical matter? It's very unlikely for them. I say, lease the SH, wait for the result of the coming GE, if the opposition win, we may have a chance to get the F-35 which is a better strike plane than SH.
And about the Wedgetail, it's too darn big and expensive for our mediocre country, how about the E-2D Hawkeye? It's the latest version equipped with AESA capabilities with ground target searching, a turbo prop plane which suit the MAF well both in budget and manpower.
Ym Lee, perhaps we should unsure that the RMAF has a decent number of fighters first before we can consider force multipliers like AWE aircraft. Despite it not providing 360 coverage and the inability to fly as high as a jet powered platform, the Eriye is the only option we can afford assuming of course cash can be allocated. As to MPA's with ''electronic intelligence'', 'ASW and ASuW warfare capabilities'' and ''laser sensors'', forget the sexy/canggih stuff, at the moment we would be very lucky to have a few more CN235s fitted with just a radar and FLIR.