KL pays $400m for eight Hornets

KL pays $400m for eight Hornets

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia is to fork out slightly more than
one billion ringgit (US$400 million) for eight U.S.-made FA-18D
Hornet fighter jets and training flight simulators, a minister
was quoted as saying yesterday.

Malaysia is the first country in Southeast Asia and one of
only nine countries in the world to own the Hornets, according to
the New Straits Times report.

The first four Hornets arrived in May and the rest are due
next month, Syed Hamid told the paper.

The Hornet jet can be equipped with state-of-the-art
electronic warfare equipment including radar warning receivers,
jammers and countermeasures, the paper said.

It has a maximum speed of 2,124 kilometers an hour, with a
combat radius of 900-plus kilometers and a combat ceiling of
15,250 meters. It can carry armaments as heavy as 6,227
kilograms.