Read this in Aviation International News...
Missile wars may heat up in SE Asia
by Reuben F. Johnson
One of the longest-running conflicts in the military aircraft
export market is about to reach critical mass here in the
Asia/Pacific region. A loosening of U.S. export controls over a
highly sensitive weapon system that several nations have wanted for
some years is now taking place, but it is more likely than not to
be accompanied by a proliferation of these weapons to every other
nation that operates advanced fighter aircraft.
For the past 11 years or more, the main arms sale controversy in
the Asia/Pacific region was the politics surrounding the release of
the U.S. Raytheon AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile
(AMRAAM). Nations in this part of the world that are already
customers for the Lockheed Martin
F-16 fighter (Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan and Taiwan)
or the Boeing F/A-18 (Malaysia, Australia) were in the past sold
aircraft that included all software and other modes for firing the
AMRAAM, but to date only Australia has received delivery of the
much-coveted missile itself.
The reason is that in most cases export of the AMRAAM to other
states has been restricted by a U.S. policy that Washington will
not be the first to introduce that particular type of missile
technology into a region unless other comparable missiles already
have been exported to and exist there. A compromise position that
had been reached with several nations was for the U.S. to
officially allow the sale of AMRAAM and release all the technical
data and other materials to the customer nation, but for missiles
themselves to remain stored in the U.S. until the comparable
missile entered the region or hostilities were to break
outwhichever comes first.
AMRAAM versus Adder
What this policy was in reality was a decision deeply entrenched in
the politics of the U.S./Russia arms race, because in the past the
only real comparable missile was the Russian-made Vympel RVV-AE,
which is the export variant of the R-77 (AA-12 Adder), and the
center of everyones attention on the issue was on Malaysia.
The issue first came to a head when the Malaysian air force
purchased 18 of the Mikoyan MiG-29SD/N fighter in 1993 and
specifically requested that its Phazotron N019 radar set would be
upgraded to permit firing of the R-77. But more than a decade
laterdespite an agreement in the late 1990s to upgrade the
Malaysian fleet with the R-77it has yet to happen. Then late last
year, Malaysia signed a contract for the delivery of 18 Sukhoi
Su-30MKM fighters and it is assumed that it is only a matter of
time before Malaysia does take the R-77 into its inventory.
In the meantime, the U.S. has begun to change its earlier policy,
based on this potential sale to Malaysia and the fact that the air
force of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has already taken
delivery of the R-77. Thailand and Singapore will both now
receive the AMRAAMs they had previously ordered. Taiwan will also
receive around 200 of the American missiles and Malaysia will also
likely receive the AMRAAM for its fleet of F/A-18s that it ordered
in a split decision with its MiG-29s in 1993.
Just wondering if it's true that we've recieved the AMRAAM or it's
just some rumour stuff...
