Dog-fight exercise causes Malaysian jet fighter crash
Dog-fight exercise causes Malaysian jet fighter crash
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): A Malaysian air force fighter crashed in the Malacca Straits on Thursday after a mid-air collision with an Australian jet fighter during a military exercise, defense sources said yesterday.
Malaysian military officials said on Thursday that a Northrop F-5E jet fighter crashed into the sea near Penang island but the pilot ejected safely. There was no mention of a mid-air collision.
But a defense source said the Malaysian jet was engaged in a dog-fight exercise with the Australian air force McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 when a collision occurred.
He told Reuters the F-5E crashed when the Malaysian pilot ejected to safety after the Australian pilot informed him by radio that the tail of his plane was in flames.
But according to Australia's department of defense, the Australian fighter collided with the Malaysian jet while flying air to air combat maneuvers in a training exercise over the Strait of Malacca.
"We have set up our own board of inquiry to probe the cause of the crash," an official from the air force said, declining to comment on the Australian version.
Malaysia and Australia conduct regular joint military exercises under the Five-Power Defense Arrangement that also links Britain, New Zealand and Singapore.
Malaysia's Defense Ministry has said an inquiry board is investigating the cause of the crash. "The board is waiting to question the Malaysian pilot for his version," the source said.
The F-5E was one of five fighters which took part in the official launch of Malaysia's new Rapid Deployment Force in the northern Langkawi island resort.
The jet was one of 16 F-5Es owned by the Malaysian air force, which is currently phasing out the 20-year-old fighters for the more sophisticated US-made F-18s and Russian-made MiG-29s.
It was the third air force F-5E to crash since Malaysia bought 16 of the jet fighters in 1972.
28 crashes
A total of 28 air crashes involving Malaysia's air force aircraft occurred between 1980 and 1989, while another 17 crashes were recorded from 1990 until last year.
Malaysia is replacing its F-5Es, based at the Butterworth base, with new jet fighters ordered under a multi-billion dollar modernization plan.
The new aircraft are 28 British Hawk 100s and 200s, eight McDonnell Douglas F/A-18Ds and 18 Russian MiG-29s.
Meanwhile, Australia yesterday dispatched a team to probe an air accident involving one of its military jets that led to the crash of a Malaysian air force Northrop F-5E during a training exercise.
"A five-man Australian accident investigation team is due in Penang later Friday to determine the cause of the accident," an Australian High Commission official here said.
"The team, comprising two pilots, one psychologist, one doctor and one engineer, is to make recommendations to prevent the recurrence of accidents of such a nature," said the official.