The Malaysian Ministry is currently holding a tender for the procurement of
Fighter Lead-In Trainer/Light Combat Aircraft (FLIT/LCA).
The procurement of FLIT/LCA aircraft was carried out to replace the Hawk
108, Hawk 208 and Aermacchi MB-339CM aircraft. The aircraft will later be
used by the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF).
Companies from various countries participated and tried to win the tender.
One of them is a Turkish aerospace company, Turkish Aerospace Industries
(TAI).
TAI submitted its Hurjet as a candidate for the competition.
TAI also said that if the Hurjet won the tender, the company would be ready
to accept payment in the form of commodities.
Reporting from Defense Security Asia, the Turkish aerospace defense company
is ready to accept payment in the form of commodities if it wins the tender
for the procurement of 18 aircraft by the Malaysian Ministry of Defense.
TAI's CEO, Professor Temel Kotil said Malaysia could choose payment
according to a certain commodity percentage of the total cost.
He also said TAI had no problems with payments and was willing to accept
payment of a few percent of the commodity.
Even so, it has not been explained in detail what commodities can be used
for payments.
“For us it's simple, business is business. We are not competing (tendering)
with other companies but we are competing with ourselves (to be better),"
said Professor Temel Kotil as quoted by Defense Security Asia.
The manufacture of the Hurjet aircraft uses the latest and new technology so
that Professor Temel Kotil believes that he has the potential to win the
tender.
If successful in winning the tender, 15 aircraft will be installed in
Malaysia and another three in Turkey.
This will be able to train local Malaysian engineers to build light fighter
aircraft as well as create new jobs.
TAI is one of the tender participants for the Ministry of Defense for the
procurement of 18 Fighter Lead-In Trainer/Light Combat Aircraft (FLIT/LCA)
for the RMAF.
Apart from TAI, several other companies also participated in the tender,
such as Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) which offered the latest variant of
the FA-50 aircraft.
The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex/Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group is
offering the JF-17 “Thunder” aircraft.
China National Aero-Technology Import & Export (CATIC) offers the Hongdu
L-15B aircraft. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) offers the Tejas
aircraft, and much more.
According to the Eurasian Times, HAL's Tejas will be on display at the
Singapore Airshow 2022.
India's Tejas will also be a big competitor to Turkey's Hurjet.
The reason is that the Tejas is currently in the final stages of development
and is being used by the Indian Air Force.
It is still unclear who will be selected, but the winner of the tender is
expected to be announced this year.
Although Turkey's offer is good, the Hurjet is still in prototype form and
has not yet made its maiden flight.
TAI targets to make its inaugural flight this year if there are no problems.
The period between flight and production will take several years.
Meanwhile, its main competitors, such as the FA-50 from KAI and the M-346FA
from Leonardo, have been around for a long time and are used in various
countries.
In addition, Turkey is also still new in the field of aviation
manufacturing.
The Turkish defense industry has successfully developed drones (Anka and
Bayraktar TB2), helicopters, cannons, small arms, warships and other weapons
but not FLIT/LCA aircraft.
With so many options and candidates available, it is still not clear which
one Malaysia will choose to win the tender as all companies are competing to
showcase their respective flagship technology.
