The Royal Malaysian Air Force originates with Parliament's passage of the Air Force Ordinance on June 2nd, 1958, creating the "Tentera Udara Diraja Persekutuan" or Royal Malayan Air Force. Air Commodore A.V.R Johnstsone from the Royal Air Force (RAF) was assigned as the adviser to the the Malayan government and was the first Chief of the Royal Malayan Air Force (RMAF). He was responsible in drawing the blueprint for Malaya's Air Force in terms of organisation, personnel, assets and its regulation. As a new force, most of its members were seconded from the Royal Air Force. A few personnel were later transferred from the RAF to the Royal Malayan Air Force in November 1958. They were Flying Officer Lim Heng Lip, Sergeant Subramanian, Corporal Othman Mohd Ismail, Corporal Wan Said, Corporal JD Parsley, Corporal Mahadeven, Senior Aircraftman (SAC) Surindam, SAC Md Noor, SAC Zainal, SAC Mohd Hussain and Junior Technician (JT) Ismail Ariffin.
Initial roles were to provide air communication and to support ground forces in their military operations against communist insurgents. With the formation of Malaysian Federation on September 16th, 1963, the name of the force was changed to "Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia" or Royal Malaysian Air Force". From this date onwards, the Airforce has experienced a steady growth and ten more squadrons and a Training Centre were formed by 1970. New types into service included the HP Herald, DHC-4 Caribou, former RAAF CA27 Sabre Mk32, the unique CL41G Tebuan, Alouette 3, S-61A-4 and Provost T51. The Sabre was replaced by the F-5E in 1975, and the Tebuan by the T/A-4PTM in 1985. In 1976 the C-130H came into service, and for pilot training, the MB339AM (1983)and PC-7A (1984) added a new dimension.
The 90's saw the arrival of much larger aircraft, first with the Hawk Mk108/208 replacing the T/A-4PTM's with 6 Skn and 9 Skn in 1994, followed by the MiG-29N/NUB in 1995 forming 17 Skn and 19 Skn, and finally the F/A-18D forming 18 Skn in 1997. In 1998, the locally manufactured MD3-160 was added to the training fleet, and in August 1999 21 Skn was formed on the CN235-220M bought from Indonesia. However, in 2000 the F-5 fleet was grounded and stored as an operational reserve. In May 2003 seventeen former RNZAF MB339CB's were earmarked to supplement the surviving MB339AM's with 15 Skn. On August 5th, 2003 a contract was signed worth $900 million for eighteen Su-30MKM's, to be based at the reserve base Gong Kedak, Terengganu. Deliveries were expected between June 2006 and late 2007. The 17 Skn (MiG-29N/NUB) was disbanded by July 2003, with all the MiG's concentrated in 19 Skn. It is reported that 11 Skn and 17 Skn will receive the Su-30's.
The Malaysian Air Force is well equipped, with two squadrons of MiG 29 and asquadron of 8 F/A 18 Hornet fighter aircraft and 4 KC 130 H tankers. ATM's modernisation in the early 90s, which saw it acquiring the R-77 Beyond Visual Range (BVR) guided missile from Russia for its MiG-29N/UB, had led defence analysts to regard Malaysia as starting an arms race with Singapore and Thailand. None of the other countries in the region had the BVR system.
The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) received and commissioned the first six Sukhoi Su-30MKM, which arrived in the country in June 2007. A dozen more Sukhois arrived before the end of 2008. With the addition of the Sukhois, the RMAF had about 60 combat aircraft in service, which included the BAE Systems Hawk 108/208s, Boeing F/A-18D Hornets and MiG-29 Fulcrums. With the commission of new strike fighters, the service mulled whether its plans to have 72 combat aircraft in its fleet would be approved by the government. If the budget for the additional fighters is approved, Sukhoi will face a tough battle with Boeing, which has been promoting the F-18E/F Super Hornets to replace the eight Hornets in service with RMAF.
Malaysia will be among the first in the world to use the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft. The Royal Malaysian Air Force has ordered four A400M aircraft costing RM2.8 billion (US$840 million), to be delivered in 2015. Germany and South Africa also ordered the aircraft which useful for humanitarian missions. An RMAF spokesperson said the aircraft could reduce flying time when sending troops to overseas missions. Previously the RMAF had to use commercial aircraft for foreign missions. He also added that although the RMAF would have the larger aircraft, the existing 20 Hercules transport aircraft would still be in service for domestic usage.he Royal Malaysian Air Force originates with Parliament's passage of the Air Force Ordinance on June 2nd, 1958, creating the "Tentera Udara Diraja Persekutuan" or Royal Malayan Air Force. Air Commodore A.V.R Johnstsone from the Royal Air Force (RAF) was assigned as the adviser to the the Malayan government and was the first Chief of the Royal Malayan Air Force (RMAF). He was responsible in drawing the blueprint for Malaya's Air Force in terms of organisation, personnel, assets and its regulation. As a new force, most of its members were seconded from the Royal Air Force. A few personnel were later transferred from the RAF to the Royal Malayan Air Force in November 1958. They were Flying Officer Lim Heng Lip, Sergeant Subramanian, Corporal Othman Mohd Ismail, Corporal Wan Said, Corporal JD Parsley, Corporal Mahadeven, Senior Aircraftman (SAC) Surindam, SAC Md Noor, SAC Zainal, SAC Mohd Hussain and Junior Technician (JT) Ismail Ariffin.
Initial roles were to provide air communication and to support ground forces in their military operations against communist insurgents. With the formation of Malaysian Federation on September 16th, 1963, the name of the force was changed to "Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia" or Royal Malaysian Air Force". From this date onwards, the Airforce has experienced a steady growth and ten more squadrons and a Training Centre were formed by 1970. New types into service included the HP Herald, DHC-4 Caribou, former RAAF CA27 Sabre Mk32, the unique CL41G Tebuan, Alouette 3, S-61A-4 and Provost T51. The Sabre was replaced by the F-5E in 1975, and the Tebuan by the T/A-4PTM in 1985. In 1976 the C-130H came into service, and for pilot training, the MB339AM (1983)and PC-7A (1984) added a new dimension.
The 90's saw the arrival of much larger aircraft, first with the Hawk Mk108/208 replacing the T/A-4PTM's with 6 Skn and 9 Skn in 1994, followed by the MiG-29N/NUB in 1995 forming 17 Skn and 19 Skn, and finally the F/A-18D forming 18 Skn in 1997. In 1998, the locally manufactured MD3-160 was added to the training fleet, and in August 1999 21 Skn was formed on the CN235-220M bought from Indonesia. However, in 2000 the F-5 fleet was grounded and stored as an operational reserve. In May 2003 seventeen former RNZAF MB339CB's were earmarked to supplement the surviving MB339AM's with 15 Skn. On August 5th, 2003 a contract was signed worth $900 million for eighteen Su-30MKM's, to be based at the reserve base Gong Kedak, Terengganu. Deliveries were expected between June 2006 and late 2007. The 17 Skn (MiG-29N/NUB) was disbanded by July 2003, with all the MiG's concentrated in 19 Skn. It is reported that 11 Skn and 17 Skn will receive the Su-30's.
The Malaysian Air Force is well equipped, with two squadrons of MiG 29 and asquadron of 8 F/A 18 Hornet fighter aircraft and 4 KC 130 H tankers. ATM's modernisation in the early 90s, which saw it acquiring the R-77 Beyond Visual Range (BVR) guided missile from Russia for its MiG-29N/UB, had led defence analysts to regard Malaysia as starting an arms race with Singapore and Thailand. None of the other countries in the region had the BVR system.
The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) received and commissioned the first six Sukhoi Su-30MKM, which arrived in the country in June 2007. A dozen more Sukhois arrived before the end of 2008. With the addition of the Sukhois, the RMAF had about 60 combat aircraft in service, which included the BAE Systems Hawk 108/208s, Boeing F/A-18D Hornets and MiG-29 Fulcrums. With the commission of new strike fighters, the service mulled whether its plans to have 72 combat aircraft in its fleet would be approved by the government. If the budget for the additional fighters is approved, Sukhoi will face a tough battle with Boeing, which has been promoting the F-18E/F Super Hornets to replace the eight Hornets in service with RMAF.
Malaysia will be among the first in the world to use the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft. The Royal Malaysian Air Force has ordered four A400M aircraft costing RM2.8 billion (US$840 million), to be delivered in 2015. Germany and South Africa also ordered the aircraft which useful for humanitarian missions. An RMAF spokesperson said the aircraft could reduce flying time when sending troops to overseas missions. Previously the RMAF had to use commercial aircraft for foreign missions. He also added that although the RMAF would have the larger aircraft, the existing 20 Hercules transport aircraft would still be in service for domestic usage.
