KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is considering sending its Sukhoi fighter jets to India for maintenance and repair, following servicing difficulties in Russia due to international sanctions, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said India and Malaysia share several defence assets, including the Sukhoi fighter jets operated by the Air Force, and that the matter was discussed during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent official visit to Malaysia.
"We discussed how we can send (the jets) and establish relationships, especially in terms of MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul), because India has a lot of Sukhoi assets and the country can manufacture spare parts.
"We are having problems sending spare parts or maintaining Sukhoi fighter jet engines in Russia. We can send them, but we cannot pay because Russia is under sanctions by the United States (US), and we cannot pay through SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) or normal payment channels.
"Now, India is allowing us to send and restore (spare parts) or carry out MRO on these Sukhoi fighter jet engines in India," he said in reply to a question from Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) during Ministerial Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat (Feb 10).
He was responding to Lim's original question about the impact on regional trade and security following Modi's visit to Malaysia last week, and the extent to which Malaysia and India can take joint steps in response to US tariffs.
Modi was in Malaysia last weekend for a two-day official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Both leaders witnessed the exchange of 11 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) and related documents covering various areas of cooperation between the two countries at Seri Perdana.
Mohamad added that Malaysia, India and Vietnam, which all operate Sukhoi jets, are forming an informal group to explore cooperation in logistics, spare parts and technical support.
