Malaysia’s FA-50M Block 20: When Do the First Jets Arrive?

Malaysia’s defence minister has announced that the Royal Malaysian Air Force will receive its first two FA-50M Block 20 light combat aircraft from Korea Aerospace Industries on October 30, opening deliveries of an 18-aircraft order worth nearly RM4 billion, the service’s first new combat jets since the late 2000s. Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin made the announcement in the Dewan Rakyat on October 26 while winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2027, stating that the aircraft would be based at Kuantan Air Base in Pahang, with some also slated for Labuan Air Base, and would strengthen its air combat capabilities. The air force chief, General Muhamad Norazlan Aris, told the New Straits Times that all 18 aircraft are scheduled to arrive by March 2028, with No. 15 Squadron having already relocated to Kuantan. The handover places Malaysia ahead of Poland, the FA-50’s largest export client, in receiving the new Block 20 standard.

Malaysia signed a letter of acceptance for the aircraft in February 2023, valued at RM4.08 billion, and the contract was formalised in May that year at the LIMA 2023 exhibition on Langkawi, following an evaluation in which the Korean design was favoured over India’s HAL Tejas, Russia’s Yakovlev Yak-130 and Leonardo’s M-346. Korea Aerospace Industries stated at the time that deliveries would begin 42 months after signature, a schedule the October 30 date meets almost exactly, with Malaysian pilots and technicians having trained in South Korea. Malaysia becomes the fourth Southeast Asian operator of the T-50 family after Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, with the Philippines having signed for 12 more FA-50 Block 20 aircraft in June 2025 in a deal worth around $700 million, while Poland ordered 48 in 2022 alongside the K2 Black Panther tanks, around 30 of which have since been laid up with engine faults.

The FA-50M is set to complement rather than replace the air force’s Sukhoi Su-30MKM and Boeing F/A-18D Hornet fighters, General Norazlan stated, while taking over from the ageing BAE Systems Hawk jets that Khaled indicated in May were due to retire. The minister stated on May 12 that an earlier plan to acquire second-hand F/A-18 Hornets from Kuwait had been shelved, and that the ministry would begin evaluating a new multirole combat aircraft by 2030, with both the Su-30MKM and F/A-18D fleets expected to be decommissioned around 2035. A second batch of 18 FA-50s has been planned under the Capability Development Plan 2055, although it has not yet been approved.

The Block 20 configuration Malaysia is receiving is a considerable step beyond the FA-50s first delivered to the Republic of Korea Air Force and the Philippines, adding an active electronically scanned array radar, reportedly Raytheon’s PhantomStrike derived from the APG-84 Advanced Combat Radar, as well as air-to-air refuelling and improved targeting and precision strike capabilities. That configuration has been the main source of difficulty in Poland, where Polish Air Force officials confirmed in mid-October that avionics overhauls, software approvals and the validation of AIM-120C AMRAAM missiles had pushed the first nine FA-50PL deliveries back by two years to July 2027, with the 36-aircraft batch now due for completion in 2029. Korea Aerospace Industries builds the jet at the same Sacheon complex as the KF-21 Boramae fighter, whose own long-range missile program has been thrown into doubt by a bidding ban on its supplier.