Can Vietnam restore Su-30MKM fighters to help Malaysia?
An unbelievable reality is that up to 14 out of 18 Su-30MKI multi-role fighters of the Malaysian Air Force are grounded due to technical problems.
In a reply to the Malaysian Parliament on Tuesday (July 31), the country's Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu admitted that the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) is not capable of maintaining the flying capability of its fighter jets.
Currently, of the 18 Su-30MKM squadron that RMAF purchased from Russia, only 4 aircraft are operational while the other 14 are grounded due to maintenance difficulties.
The same situation happened to their fleet of 10 MiG-29Ns, it should be noted that Malaysia bought a total of 14 MiG-29Ns and 2 MiG-29NUB trainers but 2 MiG-29Ns crashed and 4 other aircraft were severely damaged beyond repair.
|
| Su-30MKM fighter of the Royal Malaysian Air Force. |
Malaysia said the difficulty came from the fact that the previous contract signed between the government and the maintenance facility had expired, so the RMAF was helpless in maintaining the operations of the above fighters.
In the near future, the Malaysian Ministry of Defense will have to look for another contractor to take over the unfinished work. They may prioritize countries with close geographical locations to reduce travel costs and service prices.
So is this an opportunity for Vietnam to receive the above contract when we have built a Sukhoi fighter repair center, which is Factory A32 - a facility specializing in overhauling and major repairs of aircraft for the Vietnam Air Force?
|
| Su-27UBK fighter jet number 8521 is undergoing major repairs at Factory A32. |
According to the official announcement, Factory A32 has now completely mastered the line of upgrading and major repairs for Su-27SK/UBK fighters and is gradually moving towards meeting the technical requirements to advance to the Su-30MK2 line.
It is regrettable that Vietnam will not be able to receive maintenance contracts for the Malaysian Air Force's Su-30MKM fighters because there are too many differences between them and the Su-30MK2, these are two fighters produced by two different facilities (Irkut and Knaapo).
The most significant difference is that the Su-30MK2 uses the AL-31F engine, while the Su-30MKM uses the AL-31FP engine with the ability to change the direction of the two-way thrust. This is a device that Vietnam is not familiar with and of course has no experience in repairing.
The new partner that will provide technical support to the Royal Malaysian Air Force to get their Su-30MKM fleet back in the air is most likely India's HAL Group.
