Malaysia selects Leonardo for maritime patrol aircraft program

MELBOURNE, Australia — Malaysia has selected Italy’s Leonardo as its preferred vendor for a maritime patrol aircraft program.

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein made the announcement over the weekend following the receipt of a second transport aircraft that was converted for maritime surveillance missions with U.S. funding.

Leonardo has offered its ATR 72MP, which is based on the ATR 72 turboprop regional airliner and can perform maritime patrol, search and rescue, and electronic intelligence gathering missions using its suite of onboard systems, including radar, electro-optical sensors and satellite communication technology. The ATR 72Mp can also carry lightweight torpedoes for anti-submarine operations.

“For the procurement of two (2) MPAs, the Government has agreed to an offer by the Leornado company,” Hishammuddin said in a statement Sunday.

The purchase is funded under the Southeast Asian country’s five-year spending plan, rather than its defense budget, he added.

The minister also said the sustainment of Malaysia’s F/A-18D Hornet fleet is one of the country’s main priorities. The eight aircraft were due for delivery to Australia for overhaul work by Boeing beginning in 2020, but that plan fell through as a result of border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic and Australia’s retirement of its Hornets.

The aircraft are instead receiving overhaul work locally, with the first Hornet apparently already receiving upgrades, though it’s unclear what that entails.

The Royal Malaysian Air Force is also converting three Indonesian-built CN-235 transport aircraft to perform maritime surveillance roles, thanks to funding by the U.S. Maritime Security Initiative . Indonesian company PTDI announced Oct. 7 it had delivered the second aircraft to Malaysia.

Maritime domain awareness has proved challenging for Malaysia , with its military and Coast Guard preoccupied by piracy along its coasts as well as militancy and terrorism in the Sulu Sea, which lies between eastern Malaysia and the southern Philippines.

Malaysia is made up of two separate landmasses with coastlines along the strategic Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea. It is also one of six claimants of ownership over the disputed Spratly group of islands.

Mike Yeo is the Asia correspondent for Defense News.

澳大利亚墨尔本——马来西亚已选择意大利莱昂纳多公司作为其海上巡逻机项目的首选供应商。

国防部长希沙姆丁·侯赛因在周末宣布了这一消息。此前，他接收了第二架运输机，该飞机由美国资助改装，用于执行海上监视任务。

莱昂纳多公司推出了ATR 72MP飞机，该机基于ATR 72涡轮螺旋桨支线客机，配备一系列机载系统，包括雷达、光电传感器和卫星通信技术，可执行海上巡逻、搜救和电子情报收集任务。ATR 72MP还可携带轻型鱼雷执行反潜作战任务。

希沙姆丁周日在一份声明中表示：“政府已同意莱昂纳多公司提出的采购两艘海上巡逻艇的方案。”

他还补充说，这笔采购资金来自该东南亚国家的五年支出计划，而不是国防预算。

这位部长还表示，维护马来西亚的F/A-18D“大黄蜂”战斗机机队是该国的首要任务之一。这八架飞机原计划于2020年交付给澳大利亚，由波音公司进行大修，但由于新冠疫情期间的边境关闭以及澳大利亚退役其“大黄蜂”战斗机，该计划未能实现。

这些飞机正在当地进行大修工作，第一架“大黄蜂”显然已经进行了升级，但目前还不清楚升级的具体内容。

得益于美国海上安全倡议的资助，马来西亚皇家空军正在将三架印尼制造的CN-235运输机改装为海上监视飞机。印尼PTDI公司于10月7日宣布已向马来西亚交付了第二架飞机。

事实证明，马来西亚在海上领域感知方面面临挑战，其军队和海岸警卫队忙于应对沿海地区的海盗活动以及位于马来西亚东部和菲律宾南部之间的苏禄海的武装分子和恐怖主义活动。

马来西亚由两块独立的陆地组成，海岸线分别位于具有战略意义的马六甲海峡和南海沿岸。它也是六个声称对存在争议的南沙群岛拥有主权的国家之一。

Mike Yeo 是《防务新闻》的亚洲通讯员。