This year sees the return of Langkawi’s famous International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition LIMA. This magnificent show takes place every two years and is the largest of its kind within the Asia Pacific region, spanning across 119,209 square meters. Focusing mainly on the defence industry, but also supporting the civilian industries, the show is open to public visitors between the 26th – 30th March 2019 and is the 15th edition of the show. The exciting 5 day event takes place between The Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre MIEC, next to Langkawi International Airport, and The Resorts World, Langkawi. Both venues are within close proximity to each other. What Is The Lima Exhibition? The LIMA Exhibition is a biennial event that takes place in Langkawi, Malaysia and is dedicated to the Maritime and Aerospace sectors for Defence, Civil and Commercial Applications. The event is highly supported by the Malaysian government and industry associations. It was first set up in 1991 as a platform where industry stakeholders could engage and expand their networks. In 2017, the event was attended by 279,969 trade visitors who came to witness its impressive aerobatic and naval displays. The event featured a total of 58 aerial displays, 57 static displays and 18 supporting aircrafts and aims to maintain the same high standard in 2019. As a unique maritime and aerospace exhibition, LIMA is known to regularly attracting leading global organisations and is often attended by key decision makers who range from senior Government officials, military and civil delegates and industry movers. LIMA’19 is expected to play host to key players from the international aviation, aerospace, maritime defence and commercial sectors, as well as senior industry, defence and government decision makers from around the world – but specifically concentrates on the Asian region. For more information about the Lima exhibition visit
LANGKAWI The 15th Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) will see the participation of hundreds of companies from dozens of countries, Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu said on Monday. Speaking at a media briefin. Latest News Breaking Russia Ukraine Pakistan the nation Nusrat.
This post is brought to you by Langkawi International Maritime and Air Show 2019, will be making headlines from 26 to 30 March this year. The world-class event is being co-organised by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Transport Malaysia along with EN Projects. Dubbed as Asia Pacific’s premier maritime and aerospace show, LIMA 2019 will be presenting their impressive and supersonic flight shows and programmes, including the trademark acrobatic air show and maritime demonstration. In relation to the event, there will also be meetings, conferences, and business programmes conducted at Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre MIEC. And for everyone looking forward to it, 100 jets and 30 maritime vessels are expected to be on display this gained a reputation for being one of the most influential shows since 1991, LIMA ’19 will see the participation of industry leaders, military officials as well as tourists, whom are all invited to this exclusive exhibition, while enjoying the fresh Andaman breeze and stunning islands of Langkawi. VenueMIEC air show and Resort World Langkawi Maritime Date 26 to 28 March Trade DaysDate 29 to 30 March 2019 Public DaysTime am to pm Fee By registration Officials and tickets starting from RM15 for 1 day pass Visitors Organiser Ministry Of Defence Malaysia, Ministry of Transport Malaysia and EN Projects M Sdn Bhd Contact +603-2011 7233 View LIMA ’19 website here. "ExpatGo welcomes and encourages comments, input, and divergent opinions. However, we kindly request that you use suitable language in your comments, and refrain from any sort of personal attack, hate speech, or disparaging rhetoric. Comments not in line with this are subject to removal from the site. "
KedahMentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir delivers his speech at Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre, Langkawi March 28, 2019. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin and Aerospace Hub will be set up in Kedah, following the signing of seven memorandums of understanding (MOU) at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition
Held on the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi in the Andaman Sea, the 2019 Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition LIMA 19 was held between March 26 and 30, 2019. Nigel Pittaway reports Tentara Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Udara KAI KT-1B Wong Bee, serial number LL-0117, from Skadron Pendidikan 102 Team Jupiter’ landing after a team display at LIMA 19. The team’s aircraft have been repainted in new markings for the 2019 season. All images Nigel Pittaway AS WITH previous shows however, there was very little available budget for Malaysian defence spending in 2019 and no large deals were announced, nor contracts signed. However, the Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia TUDM or Royal Malaysian Air Force has a vision for the future under its Capability 2055 plan and this, coupled with the muchanticipated Defence White Paper to be released by the coalition government of recently elected Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in September, provided a glimmer of hope around the exhibition halls. The major news to come out of the show was that the TUDM’s Multi Role Combat Aircraft MRCA requirement has been placed even further onto the backburner, replaced by a Light Combat Aircraft LCA requirement for up to 36 aircraft in the mediumterm. A request for information RFI has been released to manufacturers around the world and two of the likely contenders, India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited HAL and Russia’s Irkut Corporation represented by state arms supplier Rosoboronexport had aircraft at LIMA 19. Malaysia’s geo-political priorities are ever-present too and the need for an enhanced maritime surveillance capability which spans everything from littoral intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, to high end, blue water maritime patrol aircraft remains. A further RFI has recently been released to manufacturers of both manned and unmanned platforms to this end. By the numbers LIMA, as its name implies, is a combined maritime and aerospace exhibition and the 2019 show attracted 406 companies from 32 countries across the two domains, according to show organisers. Perhaps reflecting the stagnation of Malaysian defence procurement programmes over the years, this number was down from a high of 555 companies, from 36 countries, two years ago and is the lowest since at least 2013. Show organisers made much of the fact that 49% of the companies involved were local companies, but overall the proportion of defence companies represented in the halls fell to 60% of total participation, down from 70% in 2017. According to the organiser’s figures, 103 aircraft participated in LIMA 19 and this included a number of firsts’. Making their debut at a LIMA event were two HAL Tejas Mk1 LCAs LA-5009 and LA-5010 from the Indian Air Force’s 45 Flying Daggers’ Squadron, which had arrived at the show via a stopover in Myanmar, en-route from the IAF’s Kalaikunda Air Force Station. The two aircraft were supported by an IAF Ilyushin Il-76 and Lockheed C-130J-30 Hercules, which did not stay for the show. One Tejas took part in the daily flying display in support of a HAL/Indian government bid for the Malaysian LCA competition. Similarly, the Irkut Corporation provided a Yakovlev Yak-130 130/01 for the first time, which arrived at the show aboard a Russian civil-registered Il-76TD. The Yak-130 took part in the daily flying display, but also provided at least two evaluation flights for TUDM pilots during its stay on Langkawi. Another type making its LIMA and even international debut, albeit briefly, was the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s first A330 multi-role tanker transport MRTT. The aircraft made a flypast on the opening day, before landing to drop off the island nation’s Defence Minister, Dr Ng Eng Hen. The MRTT performed a similar flypast during the second day and then landed to collect Dr Ng and his entourage. Making a LIMA debut in the static park were a pair of US Navy EA-18G Growlers from Electronic Attack Squadron 132 VAQ-132 Scorpions’ and a MQ-9A Reaper from California Air National Guard’s 196th ATKS Grizzlies’. Aerobatic teams included the Russian Knights with their Sukhoi Su-30SM fighters and Indonesia’s Team Jupiter, with the KAI KT-1B Wong Bee. Both teams displayed a modified colour scheme on their aircraft since their previous appearances at LIMA 17. Light combat aircraft The Malaysian Government released an RFI to the manufacturers of Light Combat Aircraft in January, with a requirement for an initial 12 aircraft, to be followed by a second tranche of 24 at some further point in the future. According to TUDM chief, General Affendi Buang, at LIMA, Malaysia is looking to spend between MKR 6 and 7 billion on the acquisition of the 36 new aircraft. Affendi said that the first aircraft would enter service after a selection has been made, but he put no timeline on any such decision. In terms of air combat priorities, the LCA programme supplants the previous MRCA competition, for which the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab JAS 39 Gripen and Sukhoi Su-35 were all candidates. The MRCA programme had been intended to replace the now retired Mikoyan MiG-29N/ MiG-29NUB fighters in TUDM service, but according to Affendi, any decision will now lag the LCA programme by at least a decade. Companies vying for the LCA includes HAL Tejas Mk1A, Irkut Yak-130, KAI FA-50 Golden Eagle, Leonardo M-346FA, Pakistan Aeronautical Complex JF-17 Thunder and Saab JAS 39 Gripen. HAL will offer the Mk1A version of its indigenous Tejas LCA, complete with Elta EL/M-2052 AESA radar, against the Malaysian requirement. The company has recently delivered the 16th Tejas Mk1 in initial operational configuration to the Indian Air Force and is developing the improved Mk1A, which will also be the initial export version. Immediately prior to LIMA 19, Dr Mahathir had visited Pakistan and signed an agreement with the Pakistani government for the establishment of a joint venture between the two countries to build Malaysian Proton cars locally. During the visit Dr Mahathir witnessed a demonstration of the PAC JF-17 and reportedly told Malaysian reporters he was impressed with its performance and could see no reason why it could not meet the TUDM LCA requirements. Rosoboron export was naturally keen to extoll the virtues of the Yak- 130 at LIMA. Head of Directorate Sergey Gorbenko said that over 160 aircraft are now in service and the aircraft has been exported to five countries outside Russia, including Bangladesh, Laos, Myanmar in the region. Gorbenko also confirmed that Rosoboron export had responded to the Malaysian RFI, saying “We are planning to bid for the LCA programme. The initial stage is 18 aircraft, and the whole programme includes 36 jets.” Although not in the LCA category, a Saab representative confirmed at LIMA that the Swedish manufacturer had been invited to respond to the RFI and did so with an offer of an initial 12 JAS 39 Gripens, with the mix of single-seat and two-seat aircraft to be determined by the customer. The representative said that the Gripens will all be new-build aircraft and can be delivered within two years of an order. Saab had previously proposed a lease arrangement for a similar number of Gripens during the MRCA competition, which it said could have been acquired from within the MiG-29N operational budget, but the offer was not taken up. The new proposal is understood to involve the sale of aircraft, rather than the previous lease offer and Saab points out that a common type for both LCA and MRCA could, in effect, bring the stalled fighter programme within reach. Although they did not have aircraft at LIMAN19, both KAI and Leonardo have confirmed their responses to the LCA RFI. As part of the Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia’s trademark airfield attack sequence to open the show, one of its four A400Ms, serial number M54-03 operated by 22 Skuadron, flies in formation with Pilatus PC-7 MkII trainers. Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia Hawk Mk208, serial number M40-32 assigned to 15 Skuadron at Butterworth, is one of two painted with a commemorative colour scheme to mark the type’s 25th anniversary in service. Hawk 25 years of service The LCA would logically be expected to replace the BAE Systems Hawk, which celebrated 25 years in service with the TUDM during LIMA 19, but mixed messages from General Affendi Buang suggest the Hawk may remain in service for at least another decade. Malaysia acquired 10 twin-seat Hawk Mk108s and 18 single-seat Mk208 aircraft and the first entered service in April 1994. The TUDM has painted two aircraft in special markings to commemorate the event, with one Hawk Mk208 M40- 32 taking pride of place in the static display and the other Hawk Mk108 M40-01 flying in the airfield attack sequence that is the trademark opening display of the show. At a ceremony at TUDM Butterworth prior to LIMA 19, Affendi told Malaysian media that the Hawk remained capable, saying “The Hawk is still capable of delivering and remaining relevant. We are planning to use it for ten more years and there will be upgrades.” Resuscitating the Sukhoi fleet In July 2018, Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu advised the country’s parliament that 14 of the TUDM’s 18 Sukhoi Su-30MKM fighters were unserviceable and awaiting major overhaul, due every ten years in line with many Russian aircraft types. The TUDM did not have funding to return the aircraft to the original equipment manufacturer, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation at Irkut, so the Malaysian Defence Ministry engaged with local contractor Aerospace System Technology Corporation ATSC, a joint venture between Malaysia and Russia to use one aircraft as a proof of concept’ vehicle to validate a local overhaul programme. The first aircraft to undergo this work was M52-11, which was completed shortly before LIMA 19 and ceremonially handed back to the TUDM in the presence of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the opening day of the show. The ten-year reset is known as the Programme of Preventative and Restoration Work PRW and the first aircraft reportedly took 22 months to complete. Two more aircraft have recently been completed and the remainder will now be cycled through the ATSC programme, a process which is expected to take a number of years to complete. Speaking at the official handover of M52-11 ATSC CEO Lt Col Ret Fadzar bin Suhada said “The handover of this aircraft marks the advancement of national aircraft engineering capability, which is critical for the Su-30MKM aircraft. ATSC has proved that the 10-years calendar service inspection was able to be conducted in-country by employing 100% local expertise.” The aircraft are operated by 11 Skuadron, TUDM, the Golden Cobras’ and no fewer than ten individual aircraft were at the show, but it is not known how many of those are actually fully operational. Maritime surveillance and UAS While the breadth of Malaysia’s maritime surveillance requirements is not abundantly clear, the government released an RFI to manufacturers of a range of aircraft – both manned and unmanned – in February, and an eventual request for proposals and subsequent request for tenders are eagerly awaited by industry. No fewer than ten of the Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia’s 18 Sukhoi Su-30MKM fighters participated in LIMA 19, including three in the impressive airfield attack sequence staged to open the show. HAL Tejas Mk1 LA-5009 assigned to the Indian Air Force’s 45 Squadron gets airborne for another handling demonstration at LIMA 19. India hopes to sell Tejas Mk1As to Malaysia to fill its Light Combat Aircraft requirement. TAI’s Anka unmanned air vehicle is a contender for Malaysia’s maritime surveillance requirement. Anka 15-008 was on display at LIMA 19. At the previous LIMA 17 show, industry was talking about a two-tiered approach to the country’s maritime surveillance requirements. The first was for a smaller platform for in-shore tasks and the second for an open water capability, but it is now unclear whether these two distinct requirements have merged, or if they remain separate programmes. Malaysia has a relatively large economic exclusion zone EEZ and is situated alongside one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, the Malacca Strait, through which an estimated 25% of the world’s oil is transported. The country therefore has a pressing requirement for control of its EEZ, including counter smuggling, counter-piracy and counterterrorism capabilities. From an unmanned aerial systems perspective, the Malaysian Ministry of Defence has a requirement for a medium altitude long endurance UAS, which is also capable of employing a range of air-to-ground weapons. Manufacturers understood to have responded to the RFI include China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group Wing Loong II, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc MQ-9B SkyGuardian, Leonardo Falco EVO and TAI Anka. Examples of both the Anka and Wing Loong II air vehicles were on display outside the main entrance to the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre hall at LIMA 19, complete with a likely array of weapons. Given its budget constraints, Malaysia is unlikely to afford a gold-plated manned maritime surveillance platform such as the Boeing P-8A Poseidon, but several manufacturers confirmed their response to the RFI at LIMA 19. Airbus Defence an Space Head of South East Asia, Johan Pelissier, told AIR International that his company has offered a solution based upon the C295MPA platform, but the number of aircraft required was yet to be defined. Pelissier said “We have a long-standing arrangement with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency for coastal surveillance, using groundbased sensors, and we have responded to the RFI. We see the C295 as an ideal fit.” Other companies understood to have responded include Dassault Falcon 2000MSA, Leonardo P-72A and Viking Guardian 400.
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