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.