https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/six-companies-bidding-rmaf-lca-contract
- Six companies bidding for RMAF LCA contract
- October 18, 2021
contract for one squadron (18 planes) valued around RM4 billion
- Korean FA 50 jet fighter
- Turkey Hürjet
- China L-15 fighter jet
- Italy M-346 planes
- India Tejas fighter
- Russian MIG 35 plane
My comments :
Here is some Google-work about those six airplanes.
No 1. FA 50 Korean fighter jet
- https://www.airforce-technology.com/news/newskorea-fa-50-philippines/
- Korea Aerospace offers 12 FA-50 fighter jets to Philippines for US$43.8m
- 31 Oct 2012
OSTB : Nine years ago the Koreans sold the FA50 to the Philippines at around RM15 million each (without munitions).
The KA 50 is a well established trainer and light attack aircraft. The Philippine price tag came without weapons. Even if we double the price to RM30 million a piece, a squadron of 18 aircraft should cost around RM540 million only. Or half a billion Ringgit.
2. Hurjet Turkey
The Hürjet is a proposed single-engine, tandem seat, supersonic advanced trainer and light combat aircraft, under development by Turkish. First flight is forecast for the last quarter of 2022.
OSTB : How do we buy a plane that is proposed, under development, first flight forecast for last quarter of 2022?
3. Chinese L 15 fighter jet
OSTB : I could not find much information on the L15. No price information available.
4. M-346 fighter Italy
https://aerocorner.com/aircraft/alenia-aermacchi-m-346/
Alenia Aermacchi M-346. Current Price US$25 million (RM104 million).
OSTB : This is a good plane for trainer and LCA roles. It started off as a joint development with Russia's Yak-130. The Yak-130 was subsonic. The M346 flies at Mach 1.15.
The M346 is used by Italian Air Force, Israeli Air Force, Polish Air Force, Republic of Singapore Air Force.
5. Tejas India. The price of the Tejas is around US $40 Million (RM166 million).
Like most other Indian made weapons systems, this plane took about 30 years to develop.
- Indian LCA program began 1980s
- First flight 4 January 2001
- Introduction 17 January 2015
Needless to say this jet is only flown by the Indian airforce. If we buy this, we will be the 2nd country in the world to operate this plane.
6. Russian MIG 35 Fulcrum $48.6 million (RM202 million)
https://militarymachine.com/most-expensive-military-jets/
The MIG 35 (an upgrade of the MiG-29) is not a Light Combat Aircraft in any sense of the word. It is a Russian multirole fighter. It has been in serial production since 2019, meaning it is a new plane. The MIG 35 has a top speed of Mach 2.25. Here is some Wikipedia about this MIG 35 and Malaysia :
"Malaysia : In 2019, there were reports that the Russian government had proposed providing two squadrons of MiG-35s to the Royal Malaysian Air Force, to replace its MiG-29N fleet. The RMAF had previously mothballed its MiG-29s due to high maintenance costs and downtime. As part of the deal, Malaysia would have returned 18 MiG-29Ns to Russia. This was the essence of an offer made by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Malaysia in August 2019. In 2021, Russian defence export agency, Rosoboronexport said, Russia will send Mikoyan MiG-35 as the contender of RMAF's LCA program."
Russia offered TWO squadrons of the MIG 35 in 2019, for the return of those 18 'not so airworthy MIG 29s? Sounds like an interesting deal.
RM4 Billion for 18 Light Combat Aircraft is a lot of money.
Even if we bought 18 MIG35s it should cost around RM3.6 Billion.
If you want to save money and still get a good aircraft then that Korean KA50 looks good. 18 KA50s should cost much less than RM1.0 billion. That is far below the budgeted RM4 billion.
We are not at war with any country. Putting it another way no other country is at war with us. This will likely prevail for a very long time. We can minimise our big ticket weapons. Something that works well and does the job is sufficient.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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