Eurofighters vs Bankruptcy 2019: Zahid should avoid the Najib 'syndrome'

Not every country in the world can afford fighter jets. Its prohibitive cost, maintenance and spare parts run into the billions of ringgit. Not to mention the accompanying hi-tech accessories and weapons arsenal which the aircraft cannot do without.

The country’s fetish for any thing hi-tech is laudable. Just like us ‘kiasu’Malaysians with our i-phones and i-pads, or blackberrys that cost a bomb. Like purchases of Lamborghinis and Ferraris that are just super expensive play toys not worth their weight in gold, or RM24 million diamond rings and RM14 billion gold and jewel-studded yachts. Having a couple of units of the Eurofigter Typhoons won’t guarantee that Malaysia will win a war. It may be considered a deterrent, but a damn expensive one.

Super toy

Fighter jets are known for their stealth capabilities, able to fly at supersonic speed, arriving at their targets so quickly and disappearing like magic. They are so deadly that they can obliterate their targets faster than the enemy can say mama mia! Armed with laser guided missiles they can take out and disable a military installation from miles away.

They have extra powerful engines that are able to take-off at less than 100 feet into the air, compared with commercial planes that need at least 10,000 feet of runway. Some of them like the F-35s are equipped with VTOL (vertical take off and landing) just like helicopters. But all these high tech fighter jets consume massive amounts of fuel like there is no tomorrow. So logistically wise they are not equipped for long missions. An aircraft carrier would be a good place to station fighter jets, where they can park themselves in international waters a safe distance from the targeted country, while the fighter jets are deployed to fly in and take out all the military targets.

Armed to the teeth with a hi-tech array of powerful weapons, bunker busting bombs and tomahawk missiles, they are so accurate and so effective in inflicting maximum damage, that many countries are awed by their capabilities. Travelling at supersonic speed and almost invisible to radar, they are immune to counter attacks from the ground, except from another fighter jet.

When Malaysia bought our Russian made MIG29’s a decade ago, it was even reputed to be more sophisticated than the American F16’s and at a fraction of the price. But like all machines, they go out of fashion, and become obsolete in an instant, that Defence Ministries are at a loss whether to upgrade or keep their original fleet at risk of national security. Today our MIG’s are no match for the latest and more sophisticated fighter jets in circulation or the Eurofighter Typhoons.

With a maximum speed of 2500km per hour, it also has a range of 2900km. Although it is not designed to be a stealth fighter, it has excellent radar masking qualities in a large section of its body.

With a payload up to 52000 lbs at take-off, it can carry a large arsenal of weapons, missiles and bombs making it a multi-role combat fighter aircraft. There is no doubt that such a purchase will meet the growing needs of the nation, but then isn’t the price a little too expensive?

Eurofighters vs Bankruptcy by 2019

If those same billions were allowed to flood the Malaysian economy instead, our stagnant economy will steamroll forward like a jet engine to be on par with many first world countries. Malaysia’s economy is not very stable at the moment, and there is talk that the country may go bankrupt by 2019, so why is there such a need to spend so lavishly?

Already most of our staple food subsidies have been discontinued, while electricity has gone up. The petrol price will definitely go up again. Isn’t it time for the government to implement spending cuts, and reuse these funds to stimulate the economy?

The Eurofighter typhoons are priced at RM3 billion a piece according to Bernama, which is way beyond the market price Germany paid for their Eurofighters. Check the aviation news archives and you will find that on 17 June 2009, Germany ordered 31 aircraft of Tranche 3A model for 2.8 billion euros which works out to be a system cost of €90m per aircraft or around RM350 million each.

How on earth did the price shoot up so astronomically to RM3000 million per aircraft? That's almost 10 fold per aircraft. Does the price include the 10 year full maintenance package, its high tech accessories, and the sophisticated weapons arsenal?

Can the nation actually afford 30 billion ringgit to purchase 10 aircraft? It would mean 30,000 less ‘would be’ millionaires in this country. Moreover, Malaysia has yet to grasp the full cost of Prime Minister Najib Razak's purchase of two second-hand Scorpene submarines at RM7.3 billion. It seems the maintenance has not been fully disclosed. For sure, it will be a while before the country can digest this huge cost.

Then there is the purchase of 6 operating patrol vessels costing RM1 billion each, which the navy needs now that it is found that the Scorpenes cannot patrol the shall Straits of Malacca after all.

Malaysia policy-makers must be professional. They must decide whether there is any real foreign threat to the nation before making another rash decision to spend lavishly - just to join the neverending arms race. And as some cynics have pointed out, to line their own pockets as well.

- Malaysia Chronicle