RM50m jet engine stolen from RMAF base

[Denny Yen 0]

http://www.mmail.com.my/print/content/26506-two-more-rmaf-jet-engines-lost

 

Two more RMAF jet engines 'lost'

 

By pekwan

Created Tuesday, February 2nd

MARHALIM ABAS [1]

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 13:33:00

PETALING JAYA: Two more fighter jet engines were "lost" by the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) in 2007, apart from the two F5 engines that were stolen from its Sungai Besi air base.

 

The other two engines "lost" belonged to a newly-delivered Sukhoi Su-30MKM Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA). The aircraft suffered "foreign object damage" (FOD), as it goes in air force lingo, after its engines sucked in stones and other objects as it landed in June 2007.

 

Sources said the two NPO Saturn AL-31FP engines were scrapped after suffering "catastrophic damage" when the brand-new Sukhoi jet landed on the runway at the Gong Kedak air base in Kedah.

 

However, RMAF chief Datuk Seri Rodzali Daud told The Malay Mail at Parliament recently that the engines were not scrapped but sent for repair.

 

He declined to elaborate, but did say that FOD was a normal occurrence in fighter jet operations. If the engines could be repaired, they would have been sent back to the Russian manufacturer, NPO Saturn.

 

Although the Sukhoi planes were equipped with titanium mesh doors that swing down over the air intake to protect the engines from FOD, the feature only worked during take-off and slow taxiing, not during landing.

 

Local defence industry sources who confirmed that the damaged engines were "lost" said it was difficult to estimate the cost of a brand new AL-31FP engine. The Sukhois cost the country RM155 million each and the government purchased 18 Su-30MKM from Russia in May 2003 at a cost of RM3.42 billion.

 

The Malay Mail learnt that the aircraft in the FOD incident was not grounded for long as the RMAF, as with other air forces, had procured spare engines for its Sukhoi fleet.

 

The sources said the Sukhoi was one of five fighter jets delivered in batches from May 2007.

 

These were transported from Russia to the Subang airbase in Antonov An-124 transport planes and re-assembled for trials before being handed over to the RMAF.

 

It is learnt that the damaged Sukhoi jet was flown by a Sukhoi Design Bureau test crew when the incident occurred, and that RMAF had initially demanded that the Russian company replaces the two engines.

 

However, Sukhoi refused on grounds that the test crew was only following the orders of RMAF officials to land at the Gong Kedak air base. The runway had been cleared for other RMAF aircraft such as the Hercules C-130 but at that point, the Sukhois had yet to be given the greenlight to land.

 

The Gong Kedak base had undergone massive re-development to host the new MRCA squadron.

 

More than RM200 million was spent to re-develop the air base, which now boasts an extended runway and new facilities, including hardened aircraft shelters for the Sukhoi squadron.

 

Although the incident was a clear violation of RMAF standing orders, no one has been hauled up over the loss of the two engines.

 

The Sukhoi made its public debut in the country at the 2007 Merdeka Day parade and the jets also took part in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace show in December that year.

[Ignatius 4]

Why dont they just make an entire SU30MKM disappear. It's obvious that when even military engines can go missing, what more to say tax payers money??!!

[S M Tang 0]

Here we go again. . .

[Wilson Kook 0]

Embarassing for Malaysians. Whole world laughing at our air force.

[Hakan 2]

well aircrafts counts is OK?

[Timothy 1]

i think the "lost" here refers to irreparable damage ?

 

[joke] but hey, if these really were "stolen" again ... anybody know who i should call for a couple of nuri's for my house? [/joke]

[KK Lee 5]

Wonder what else are missing?

 

Edited February 2, 2010 by KK Lee

[HIDAYAT 0]

here we go again!..its not the engine,its the acraft quantity counts!

[Kenneth T 0]

Is the current security too loose? Has the government taken any necessary action to tighten the security? Seems like they had learnt from the previous lessons but done nothing much here....what ashame for the government....

[Syukri 0]

Juz small correction from the article..

 

Sukhoi air base which is gong kedak is situated somewhere near terengganu coastal n not in kedah..

 

Kedah only have PC-7 & PC-9,n buch of jurrasic cgopper...

[Aiman 0]

Juz small correction from the article..

Kedah only have PC-7 & PC-9,n buch of jurrasic cgopper...

Its Pilatus PC-7 and PC-7 mk ll

RMAF want to buy PC-9? naahh should take PC-21

[KK Lee 5]

Najib: ‘Not as though they are F-18 engines’

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 — Although the two stolen Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) fighter jet F-5E engines traced to Uruguay were not strategic assets to the nation, no effort would be spared to recover them, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.

 

He said the engines were more than 35 years old as they were purchased, way back in 1972. Speaking to reporters after a walkabout in Kampung Baru here today, the prime minister said each engine cost about RM303,000.

 

“They are very old engines... they are not state-of-the-art. So, it is not of strategic asset to the nation. It is not as though they are Sukhoi or F-18 engines,” he said.

 

Najib said the engines were of a generation of aircraft which were no longer frontline aircraft anymore, in terms of capability and technology.

 

Yesterday, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said the Uruguay Government had located the two stolen engines and efforts were underway to bring them back.

 

The engines were reported stolen from two RMAF facilities on Dec 20, 2007 and Jan 1, 2008.

 

Two people have been charged in the sessions court to stealing the engines. They claimed trial. — Bernama

 

Will wait for that one day

 

[KK Lee 5]

Global Dynamics

 

February 8, 2010; How do two stolen jet fighter engines get from the United States, to Malaysia, then to Argentina, Uruguay and finally to Iran? No one is entirely sure just yet. But the two engines are still in the wind, and no other air force, except Iran's, would touch them two (their parts numbers are in the hands of police everywhere).

 

It all began last December, when Malaysia began an investigation into the theft of two General Electric J85-21A jet engines in 2007 and 2008. Each of the six F-5 fighters used by the air force uses a pair of these engines. Packed for shipping, the engine would be a box about eight feet long and weighing half a ton. At first, the 37 year old engines were believed shipped out of the country, from a Malaysian air base, and sold into the black market. It was thought that the most likely customer would be Iran, which would probably pay a million dollars, or more, for it. Iran has been under arms embargos for decades, and is desperate to obtain spare parts. Iran has about sixty F-5 fighters, purchased in the 1970s. Iran has used the F-5 as the model for domestically designed and built aircraft. So they are definitely in the market for J85-21A engines.

 

For a while, it was believed that the engines never left the country, but were instead taken apart, and the components sold to a South American broker, or back to the Malaysian Air Force. But eventually, the theft was traced to an air force sergeant and a businessman, who had shipped the engines to Argentina, and then to Uruguay. This, oddly enough, puts the engines in danger of getting smuggled to Iran.

 

That's because Iran has had agents operating in this part of South America. Pro-Iranian terror group Hezbollah has long been involved in the drug business in this neighborhood. That gives these Iran backed Islamic terrorists access to the narcotics smuggling routes that can move anything, or anyone, just about anywhere. The Iran-sponsored Lebanese group has long been involved in narcotics and people smuggling in South America's tri-border (Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil) region. This area has long been a hotbed of illicit activity, and too many politicians and police commanders are on the take from gangsters to change this. The tri-border region is just north of Uruguay. At the moment, the government of Uruguay is cooperating with Malaysian police to track down the missing jet engines.

 

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20100208.aspx

 

[KK Lee 5]

Missing jet engines returned to M'sia

 

Jun 26, 10 5:21pm

 

The Royal Malaysian Air Force's (RMAF) F-5E jet engines reported stolen two years ago have been brought back to the country from Uruguay.

 

Malay daily Berita Harian reported on its website today that Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (right) said the engines were in Uruguay and were brought back to Malaysia after their return was secured by attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail.

 

“I cannot give the actual date on which the engines were brought back to the country, but it was by the efforts of the attorney-general, who went there physically (to arrange the return of the engines),” he was reported as saying in Kota Bharu today.

 

Abdul Gani had gone in February to Uruguay, where the engines were found.

 

The F-5E jet engines, which cost RM303,570 when they were purchased in 1975, were reported missing in 2008.

 

On Jan 6, RMAF Sergeant N Tharmendran (left) was charged under Section 380, read together with Section 109 of the Penal Code, with stealing the jet engines in December 2007 at the air movement section of the RMAF base in Subang.

 

 

He was also charged with conspiring in the theft of the two engines with senior serviceman Mohamad Shukri Mohamad Yusop at the material processing shed (Matra 1) of the RMAF base in Sungai Besi. He was arrested on Sept 1 last year.

 

Tharmendran faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine, if convicted.

 

Businessman P Rajandran was charged with disposing off stolen properties (the two jet engines) under Section 414 of the Penal Code.

 

He is alleged to have committed the offence on April 30, 2008, at No. 49, Jalan TS 6/6, Taman Industri Subang.

 

Both have claimed trial, which has been set for July 19 this year.

 

The Air Force has admitted that there were weaknesses within the RMAF inventory system at the time the jet engines were pilfered, which was a contributing factor to the theft.

 

The government has said said no high-ranking officials were involved.

 

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/135664

 

Guess only in Malaysia, number change over time and cross-border stolen good can be recovered. Hope they didn’t bought one from Uruguay.

 

[KK Lee 5]

More from wikileaks

 

http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/12/09KUALALUMPUR1013.html

 

http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/12/09KUALALUMPUR1016.html

 

http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2010/01/10KUALALUMPUR12.html

[Victor A. 2]

Has the engine actually been recover or is it still missing?

[stryker 0]

Global Dynamics

 

February 8, 2010; How do two stolen jet fighter engines get from the United States, to Malaysia, then to Argentina, Uruguay and finally to Iran? No one is entirely sure just yet. But the two engines are still in the wind, and no other air force, except Iran's, would touch them two (their parts numbers are in the hands of police everywhere).

 

It all began last December, when Malaysia began an investigation into the theft of two General Electric J85-21A jet engines in 2007 and 2008. Each of the six F-5 fighters used by the air force uses a pair of these engines. Packed for shipping, the engine would be a box about eight feet long and weighing half a ton. At first, the 37 year old engines were believed shipped out of the country, from a Malaysian air base, and sold into the black market. It was thought that the most likely customer would be Iran, which would probably pay a million dollars, or more, for it. Iran has been under arms embargos for decades, and is desperate to obtain spare parts. Iran has about sixty F-5 fighters, purchased in the 1970s. Iran has used the F-5 as the model for domestically designed and built aircraft. So they are definitely in the market for J85-21A engines.

 

For a while, it was believed that the engines never left the country, but were instead taken apart, and the components sold to a South American broker, or back to the Malaysian Air Force. But eventually, the theft was traced to an air force sergeant and a businessman, who had shipped the engines to Argentina, and then to Uruguay. This, oddly enough, puts the engines in danger of getting smuggled to Iran.

 

That's because Iran has had agents operating in this part of South America. Pro-Iranian terror group Hezbollah has long been involved in the drug business in this neighborhood. That gives these Iran backed Islamic terrorists access to the narcotics smuggling routes that can move anything, or anyone, just about anywhere. The Iran-sponsored Lebanese group has long been involved in narcotics and people smuggling in South America's tri-border (Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil) region. This area has long been a hotbed of illicit activity, and too many politicians and police commanders are on the take from gangsters to change this. The tri-border region is just north of Uruguay. At the moment, the government of Uruguay is cooperating with Malaysian police to track down the missing jet engines.

 

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20100208.aspx

 

 

 

Terrorist are terrorist.There is no such thing is islamic terrorist,you dont hear any christian terrorist (IRA?),Hindu terrorist (HINDRAF/LTTE),Buddist terrorist ,Jewissh (HAGANAH) etc.

[Mohd Saat 0]

Terrorist are terrorist.There is no such thing is islamic terrorist,you dont hear any christian terrorist (IRA?),Hindu terrorist (HINDRAF/LTTE),Buddist terrorist ,Jewissh (HAGANAH) etc.

 

 

Correct. That was the reason why before Malaysia supported the various anti-terrorist initiatives, Mahathir wanted to agree on a standard definition of "terrorism". But the powers refused because if the world did this, then the IRA, LTTE, HAGANAH or for that matter the nation of Israel would be defined as terrorist along with Iraq, Libya and some acts of the United States.

 

But I digress.

Edited April 20, 2011 by Mohd Saat