Malaysia's first FA-50M fighter arrives ahead of Hawk retirement

The Royal Malaysian Air Force's first FA-50M light combat aircraft, tail number M58-01, touched down at Labuan Air Base on October 30, 2026, as a stopover before moving to its home base at Kuantan in Pahang. Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin witnessed the arrival, with the aircraft escorted over the base by RMAF Hawk, F/A-18D Hornet and Su-30MKM jets.

The aircraft is the first of 18 FA-50M Block 20 jets ordered from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). The manufacturer valued the deal at $920 million when it first announced the transaction in February 2023, while Malaysian officials valued it at close to RM4 billion. A second aircraft was held back because of a technical issue and, according to the Asian Defence Journal, which attended the event, is expected to arrive in Malaysia by November 1, 2026.

The aircraft will be operated by No. 15 Squadron at Kuantan Air Base. Khaled said the squadron now has more than 200 personnel, including 57 core members trained in South Korea: six pilots, six engineering officers and 45 technicians. All six pilots completed flight training on October 21, 2026, and a formal handover ceremony is scheduled for mid-November in Kuantan. Khaled said the RMAF expects to have six FA-50Ms by April 2027, with the rest delivered by early 2028, while the RMAF said in June 2026 that deliveries would be phased through March 2028. The programme is tied to the planned 2028 retirement of the RMAF's BAE Hawk 108 and Hawk 208 fleet; KAI says the Malaysian variant adds air-to-air refuelling and expanded weapons options over earlier FA-50s and will carry RTX's PhantomStrike active electronically scanned array radar. Khaled said the number of FA-50Ms to be stationed at Labuan air base would be determined after the Hawk aircraft are phased out in 2028, and Labuan, off Sabah in Borneo, is set to host some of the fleet. The RMAF's Capability Development Plan 2055 calls for 36 light combat aircraft, double the current order, and Khaled said no decision has been made on whether a second batch would be more FA-50Ms or another type.