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The Malaysian government has announced that it will continue to operate 10 of its 16 MiG-29N interceptors until 2015, reversing plans to decommission the aircraft by the end of 2010. A plan to replace the MiG-29s with a new fighter aircraft has been delayed by the economic downturn. However, maintaining the aircraft will impose burdens of its own since the aircraft’s engines need to be overhauled every year and the weaponry for the fighter jets has reached the end of its life span. The 10th Five-Year Malaysian Plan (2011-1015) is expected to propose procurement and development funding of MYR7 billion...

The Malaysian Government last week announced that it would continue to operate ten of its 16 MiG-29N interceptors, reversing plans announced late last year to decommission the entire fleet of by the end of 2010. The original plan by the Ministry of Defence to replace the MiG-29N fighter jets with the 'Multi Role Combat Aircraft' (MRCA) has been delayed by the economic downturn, a ministry official told reporters. As defpro.com previously reported in November last year, the Royal Malaysian Air Forces’ (RMAF) plan to purchase a new fleet of fighter aircraft faced serious financial obstacles . On Wednesday last week,...

The Royal Malaysian Air Force's (RMAF) MiG-29N aircraft will fly for at least another five years, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said. He said the government had decided to continue operating the Russian-made aircraft although there was a proposal to retire and sell them to third world countries. "The decision was based on the capability of the aircraft (MIG-29N) in executing the tasks given," he told reporters after visiting the RMAF base here today. Zahid said factors considered include the country's economy which had yet to fully recover from the economic slowdown. "We plan to buy more multi-role...