After a long delay, Malaysia has chosen the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) Fighting Eagle for its Light Combat Aircraft/Fighter Lead-In Trainer (LCA/FLIT) requirement. The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) made its choice in mid-2022, but the procurement was not confirmed until three months after a new government took power last November.
KAI said that the order for 18 FA-50s was worth $920 million and that deliveries would begin in 2026. The Korean jet was preferred to three other contenders: the Indian Tejas, Sino-Pakistani JF-17, and Russian MiG-35. The RMAF retired its squadron of MiG-29s in 2017 without a replacement. That has left the service with two combat aircraft squadrons, one flying Sukhoi Su-27s and the other with Boeing F/A-18D Hornets, but the latter comprises only six aircraft, and the RMAF has been eyeing similar jets that are being retired by the Kuwait air force.
The status of that potential acquisition is uncertain. The new Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, unveiled a new budget that substantially increased the country’s debt last Friday. The stated LCA/FLIT requirement is 36 aircraft, with the RMAF also aiming to replace an ageing fleet of BAE Systems Hawk LCAs and trainers. KAI is tipped to expect a follow-on order of 18 more FA-50s, or for the T-50 or TA-50 training versions. The company has now sold Fighting Eagles to four countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the others being Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
Having evaluated both the F-35A and F-35B, the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) chose the Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) B-model in 2019, ordering four with an option for eight more. That option has now been exercised. According to the Pentagon’s sales notification, the total package cost would be $2.75 billion if Singapore bought all 12 jets.
The RSAF will receive its F-35Bs from 2026. The first jets will remain in the U.S. for training. Singapore’s defense minister, Ng Eng Hen, said: “The F-35Bs will replace the aging F-16s, which will progressively draw down after reaching obsolescence from the mid-2030s”. However, the RSAF has a large fleet of F-16s, which is only now starting to be upgraded to the AESA radar-F-16V version.