That is wierd indeed. Would it have made more sense to buy additional Hawk 100s than MB-339s with recycled engines?

Are any of the old MB-339AM’s still operational or is the 8 strong MB-339CM the only ones operational?

All of the surviving mb-339am is stored, with one now in RMAF museum KL.

From memory the RMAF also crashed quite a few Hawks as well, especially the two seater version.

From the initial buy of 10x 108’s and 18x 208’s, 4x 108’s and 5x 208’s has been written off.

Other than the engine overhaul and spares support package, if not mistaken a contract to upgrade the rwr has also been signed with selex for the seer rwr system.

The hawks get used a lot as it has a low operating cost and it is also used for flight training along with the mb-339cm (this is also a particularly weird buy, with the engines salvaged from the old mb-339am)

RMAF needs additional pc-7mkII’s??

SAAF is trying to sell their surplus (16units if not mistaken) pc-7 mkII’s. But it seems that the Malaysian government does not like money saving secondhand purchases…

ROKAF also recently retired their 15 bae hawk trainers and is for sale/donation to current hawk operators (been offered to tni-au but apperently turned down)

Although the said MRCA requirement has been around for some time, until now there is no release of any official documents/technical requirements/RFQ for them by the Malaysian government. And the supposed retirement date for the MiG-29 is in 2015.

Unofficially some quarters in the RMAF prefers the SHornet. Eurofighter and Dassault are lobbying hard for their new fighters. There are also news of gripen lease offered directly by the Swedish government, only the tech support contract would be with Saab.

What they need to do is to upgrade their c3i and radar capablilites to cover the whole island, and also mpa capabilities. The war with ltte is just over so I think they will want to enjoy the peace dividend for a while. As for tourism activities, the air force also does a lot of commercial flying activities to fly tourists with its helis and transports. It also operates a superb museum, with a lot of aircrafts preserved in flying condition.

Hmmm…

On its own the MKM is a highly capable fighter with good Radar/IRST, highly advanced Saab Avitronics MAWS with 360degree optical and laser warning, Damocles targeting pods and KNIRTI SAP-518 ECM pods, not to mention the extremely agile thrust vector/canard combo. But at the time it is a unique fighter that even Russia does not use, so all operational tactics and procedures has to be written from scratch (with the help of IAF). Coupled with erratic support from Russia, it is not as beloved by RMAF as the F/A-18 Hornet (regular updates, excellent support; all tactics, procedures and manuals from USN…)

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In the near past RMAF buys both from russia and the west as a hedge should any one of them withheld support in times of crisis (as happened to Indonesia during the east timor conflict) but in the 80’s when most of its aircraft is western sourced, and squadrons operating the A-4PTM skyhawks (2 sqns) have 20 planes each.

In the near future the F-5 and the MiG’s are planned to be replaced by a new MRCA (if funds permitting), and if the beloved Hornets could be persuaded to be sold to other current users, the fighter types could be reduced to just 3 types (MKM hi-end, The New MRCAs mid and Hawks low-end)

Bae 146 on a dirt strip during the libyan civil war