WHICH PLANE SHALL WE BUY FOR OUR AIR DEFENSE?

 It is unlikely that Malaysia will be attacked by any hostile country even into the far future. We have no more territorial issues that pose a real threat of attracting hostilities from outside the country.  Sabah is not a military issue with the Philippines. This could change if the Sabahans were to break away from Malaysia which might then attract the attention of the Philippines again. The same can be said of Sarawak. A breakaway Sarawak will have 23 million neighbours in Indonesian Kalimantan, a sizeable number of whom are Dayaks. Do keep that in mind. On our northern border the new Thai government is becoming slightly haywire over the Muslim issues in south Thailand. If they are "careless" (meaning they dont care) they could create problems for later. The folks there kecek the same lingo.

But our airforce still needs new jet fighters. The issue is still not resolved. Someone is suggesting the Russian MIG35. A short video:

Russian planes are all fantastic. They are much cheaper than western fighters. There is a lesser known YAK 150 (below) that serves a dual role of combat trainer as well as a COIN (counter insurgency) light aircraft.

The newest Russian SU57 (below) is indeed a masterpiece. Actually a "master-beast". It is a stealth fighter using AI and has the S70 drone-wingman capability.  If we buy this aircraft it will push our technology base to the sky.

But there is an issue. The Russian airforce has only about 25 of these SU57 and has refused further deliveries from the manufacturer because of manufacturing issues over the new engine.

SU57's AL-51F1 engine : These jets will feature the new AL-51F1 engine. The AL-51F engine solidifies the Su-57's status as a fifth-generation fighter jet.

The mass production of the new AL51 engine has hit a snag. They cannot deliver enough of the new engines and on time. So the Russian airforce has stopped taking deliveries of any more SU57. Hopefully they will get this matter sorted out soon.

Which brings us to the Chinese. The Chinese stealth fighters are now at par with anything the Americans have including the F22 and F35E stealth fighters. However the Chinese jets are cheaper than the Russian planes which are cheaper than the American planes.

The Chinese have no manufacturing issues. They are turning out their world class stealth fighters at their cookie cutter factories.

Plus the Chinese have another major advantage - they upgrade their technology and their fighter planes at a pace that is far beyond both the West and Russia. 

The Chinese are constantly upgrading their engines (which already have supercruise - mach speed with no afterburners, hence longer and further flight missions). They constantly upgrade their radar, avionics and their onboard weapons (missiles, decoys etc). 

After the J20 stealth they produced the J31 stealth and now the latest J35 stealth fighter (below) is entering service onboard their aircraft carriers. 

If you ask me - buy Chinese stealth fighters. It will be a paradigm shift in our tech base if our boys and girls can operate these planes.

Plus we should face no problems with spare parts and upgrades. China is right next door.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.