KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysian Air Force’s latest squadron got its first aircraft on Tuesday when two Sukhoi Su-30MKM Flanker fighter jets were delivered.
The Russian-made aircraft were on board an Antonov An-124-100 cargo aircraft, which landed at the Gong Kedak air base in Kelantan at 6.30pm.
An RMAF spokesman said two more aircraft were scheduled to arrive later this year.
The four will be on display at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition in December.
The full squadron of 18 aircraft, procured in a deal estimated at US$900 million (RM3.08 billion), would be in operation by the end of next year.
The aircraft will form the RMAF’s 11th Squadron, to be based in Gong Kedak, the air force’s newest base.
The delivery of the two aircraft came while Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was in Moscow meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, on his first official visit to that country since becoming prime minister.
The aircraft were made at the Irkutsk aviation plant of the Irkut Corporation and are currently being assembled and inspected.
The two aircraft were formally handed over to RMAF chief Gen Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin in a roll-out ceremony at the plant earlier this year.
The Su-30MKM (an abbreviation which stands for modernized, commercial, Malaysia) is an advanced modification of the widely known multifunctional fighter jet, Su-30MKK.
However, the Malaysian version of the fighter jet significantly differs from the prototype in various systems.
Highly-manoeuvrable, the Su-30MKI version of the jet was also ordered by the Indian Air Force.
The aircraft will significantly beef up the RMAF’s air defense capabilities as the squadron joins the existing fleet of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29N Fulcrum, Boeing F/A-18D Hornet and BAE Systems Hawk 108 and 208 fighters.
The Fulcrums, like the Flankers, are made in Russia, while the Hornets and Hawks are American and British.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/National/20070621075734/Article/index_html
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