NEW DELHI: Malaysia is keen to cooperate with India on joint defence tactical training – in the air with the Russian-made Sukhoi-30MK fighter aircraft, and below the sea with the French Scorpene-class submarines. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is also Defence Minister, said Malaysia would hold discussions with India on the possibility of training for its Sukhoi pilots and cooperating on maintenance of aircraft as well as spare parts. “The aircraft used by both countries is the same, although the avionics on the Indian version are slightly different,” he told Malaysian journalists covering his week-long visit to India. Najib said Malaysia was also looking at working with India on the training of crew and maintenance of its Scorpene submarines scheduled to be delivered in 2009. Malaysia bought two of the state-of-the-art stealth submarines at a cost of US$580mil (RM2bil) each and they are being built by European naval shipbuilders DCN International in Cherbourg, France, and by Izar at Cartagena, Spain. “We can look at the possibility of joint training on tactics. India has acquired six such submarines,” he said.
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June 10, 2006 at 2:38 pm