The MD-530G helicopters in Subang, Malaysia. Photo c/o Malaysia Military Review. |
The MD-530G Little Bird light attack helicopters ordered by the Malaysian Ministry of Defence (MOD) finally arrived in Malaysia.
Photos from Malaysian defense pages surfaced showing the 6 MD-530G attack helicopters in Subang Airport in Malaysia, after arriving from the United States.
The helicopters were ordered in 2016 under a RM321.9 million (US$77 million) contract, and were supposed to be delivered in 2 batches starting 2017.
But the project encountered several political and technical issues, pushing delivery to 2020, then to 2021, and again by early 2022.
These helicopters were already handed-over to the Malaysian MOD on January 2022 in Texas after several years of delay and were expected to arrive in Malaysia by March 2022.
Prior to that, Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein previously confirmed that the helicopters have completed type certification process by Malaysian aviation regulators, and training of crew were conducted in 2021.
The Malaysian Army’s aviation unit will be receiving these helicopters, and is the launch customer of the MD-530G attack helicopters made by American helicopter manufacturer MD Helicopters.
The MD-530Gs are equipped with a digital glass cockpit, ballistic armor protection, Tek Fusion mission and weapons management system, a Wescam MX-10D electro-optical/infrared laser designation camera, and the Thales Scorpion helmet-mounted system.
The helicopters are also armed with the FN Herstal HMP400 50-caliber machine gun pods and the M260 7-shot rocket launchers for 70mm rockets.
[3] Defense News