Apparently, the recent revelation made by the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) during last week Singapore Airshow 2020 on the scheduled transportation of a single Boeing F/A-18D Mod 25X Hornet strike fighter to RAAF Base Williamstown later this year is actually part of the Malaysia’s own enhanced Mid Life Upgrade (MLU) program which will see Boeing Australia conducting several upgrades on the aircraft.
These include upgrades on cockpit display, new data link and new hardware. The previous MLU conducted on the Malaysian Hornet fleet beginning from 2015 has resulted the introduction of AIM-9X air-to-air missiles (AAM), Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), Tactical Air Launched Decoy (TALD), AIM-120C7 Advanced Medium Range AAM (AMRAAM) and FZ 90 2.75” / 70mm rockets fired from LAU32 and LAU51 pods.
Also part of the MLU were Raytheon AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR and BAe System AN/APX-111 ‘Birdslicer’ IFF Interrogator.
Under the 4 Dimensions Malaysian Armed Forces ( 4D MAF)’ Network Centric Operation (NCO), the Hornet is able to establish data link with the two Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Jebat-class F-2000 frigates.
The new EMLU will perhaps allow the Hornet to dispense stand off weapon including the Kongsberg Joint Strike Missile (JSM), essentially a multi role variant of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) which are now being installed on board the Navy’s Maharajalela-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
While the NSM is an all through anti ship missile (ASM), the JSM will be able to strike naval and ground target making it the most suitable fit for the Hornet.
With this transition, the RMAF could channel its AGM-84 Harpoon missile to its BAe Hawk Mk 208 Fighter Ground Attack (FGA) at least until the two weapon systems (the Hawk and Harpoon) could be decommissioned from service in 2030.
There will be four batch of Hornets to undergo eMLU program beginning from this year all through 2024. Each year the works will be limited to just 2 aircraft.
This will allow the Hornet to serve for another 15 more years until 2035. By that time hopefully these Hornets will be replaced by 5th Generation Fighter Aircraft such as the TAI TF-X or Sukhoi Su-57 (NATO Reporting Name: Felon).
(MFH)