KUALA LUMPUR: The story below is self-explainatory but the sale left us wondering how in the world are we going to sell our Migs?
With a reported price tag of RM300 million for all 16 planes, lock, stock and barrel, it will be much cheaper for anyone else to buy new planes from Russia.
It also appears with the latest development we may have to accept the offer from Russia to trade the 29s for six MKMs but Mindef is still hoping that we will find another buyer soon
There is one country of course that is willing to buy the planes for the price we are asking, but I am sure that we will not sell it to them. That country, is Iran of course. Iraq might be another candidate but I dont think the US will let us sell them the jets….
Myanmar Buys 20 Mig-29 Fulcrum D for US$570 mln
Moscow A 400 million-euro ($570 mln) contract has been signed for the delivery of Russian MiG-29 fighters for the Myanmar Air Force, a source close to Russia’s arms export monopoly told a business daily on Wednesday.
Vedomosti quoted the source at Rosoboronexport as saying the Russian bid to supply MiG-29 Fulcrum-D carrier-based fighter jets beat China’s offer to sell its latest J-10 and FC-1 fighters.
Myanmar was rearmed with Chinese military aircraft worth some $2 billion in the 1990s, the paper said.
The country bought 12 MiG-29 fighters in 2001, but this contract is the largest since the 2007 unfulfilled contract to supply Algeria with 34 MiG-29 fighters.
In 2008, a contract for the supply of six MiG fighters was signed with Sri Lanka.
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced last year that Russia would give Lebanon 10 MiG-29 fighter jets for free, Vedomosti said.
MOSCOW, December 23 (RIA Novosti)
–Malaysian Defence
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In another website it was quoted that it will be delivery of 20 MIG 29 to Myanmar for total USD400 million. It never mentioned any model but Russion only producing the SMT currently. But logicly, SMT version cant be that cheap of USD20 million a piece. Checking in wiki (yep the worst source) the SMT version going at least USD35 million a piece.
This is where my conspiracy theory :-) (the ridiculous sort) checks in. I believe Malaysia will sell the MIGs to Russia, who will in turn do the update/upgrade it to SMT standards before selling to Myanmar. The Balance 4 MIGs may come from their 200+ mothballed stocks. If i remembered correctly, Russia did not opt for new SMT but upgrades old C class to SMT which cost (estimates) 25% of new built.
I believe, if my theory ever holds,at RM300 million total or approximately USD87 million selling price, that will be about USD5.4 million a piece. Say another USD 10 million for upgrades, balance 5 million weapon, walla u got yourself an upgraded MIG ready to serve Myanmar.
Marhalim: Thats interesting Kamal. I will check that out.....
Before being operated by a new customer, the MiG-29Ns will also require an engine overhaul.
I'm curious as to whether U.S. sourced items like the AN/APN-118 TACAN receiver and AN/APN-147 VOR/ILS will have taken out before the fleet is handed over.
And assuming the new customer doesn't want the CAE Electronics Full Mission Simulator with the a fibre-optic helmet mounted display sight [HMD]and Operational Flight Trainer, what will the RMAF do with it? There is also a non flying MiG-29 airframe used for training, I hope this ends up at the RMAF Museum!
Marhalim: The Defence Minister has said that they do not want a single Mig left in Malaysian soil as it would be a reminder of the bad experience they had with them. Nothing about the simulators and other equipment on the Mig though, but your question does give me some ideas!
I prefer it if Malaysia choose the buyback package from the Russian of which the Russian will buy back the MIGs and will supply Malaysia back with additional 6 MKMs.
We can save money for buying other fighter with the current tight budget through this package. We sell the MIGs and we get the MKMs. Simple.
Same goes to the Hornet. It's better for us to take the Boeing package for buying back the Hornet and supplying us back with the Super Hornet as part of the package offered by Boeing.
The buy-back packages offered for Malaysia should be taken into consideration because of our little and yet tight development budget for the next upcoming years.
Potential buyer of our MiG's (others than Iran, Iraq & North Korea) :-
1. Sri Lanka - Interested on MiG-29 to replace ageing Kfir & F-7 Airguard.
2. Sudan - Current operator of MiG-29 and wanted to add more.
3. Peru - Similar to Sudan.
4. Bangladesh - Interested to add number of MiG in inventory.
300 million ringgit is less than 100 million US dollars for 16 aircrafts. compared to the myanmars' buy at 570 million US dollar for 20 aircrafts, i still feel that it's a worthhile buy for the potential customer....
Manof, yes but it depends on who's going to absorb the cost for the engine overhauls and if any upgrades are required. The cockpit and avionics were modified to suit the RMAF's requirements and may not suitable for the new owner. I also suspect that stuff like the IFF, TACAN and ILS will be removed before the sale.
oops my bad, it is actualy 20 million euro or USD28.5 million a piece. Still cheap compared to the at least USD35 million a piece of the SMT offered to Algeria in 2008 but cancelled the delivery. Still i incline to say that our MIG could land in Myanmar after the necessary upgrades by the russian could still possible hehehhehe.I thought someone quoted in local dailies that the airframes still got good 15 years left.. Anyway hope they get a good deal for it.
Marhalim: Yes the airframe still has 10 to 15 years to go....
Selling the MIGs to Iran, Sudan, Syria, Myanmar, NoKor etc. is a brilliant way to get Malaysia slapped with trade sanctions. We are already a known ITAR violator with not just the J81s going to Iran. Malaysia has issued bogus end user certificates for stuff like F14 spares. Was anyone done for that? I don't think so.
If we persist in having a cavalier attitude towards the binding terms of procurement, we should expect to suffer consequences.
I am worried if our MiG's engine already smuggled out !!!
''Selling the MIGs to Iran, Sudan, Syria, Myanmar, NoKor etc. is a brilliant way to get Malaysia slapped with trade sanctions. ''
Why is this even an issue and why does this have to be mentioned? The Defence Minister has clearly stated that the MiGs would only be sold to countries or companies approved by the UN. In order not to piss ''big brother'' off, the chances of Malaysia selling the MiGs to any of the countries indicated is very slim. In event of the MiGs being traded in with Russia for new MKMs, what happens to them after that is beyond Malaysia's control and responsibility. As I mentioned earlier, the handful of U.S. sourced avionics on the MiGs like the GPS, TACAN, ILS and IFF will most probably have to be stripped before the fleet is handover.