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Chakrit Samithinan |
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Chakrit Samithinan & Saichol Krai-amat |
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Static and Arrivals
After
a covid-induced 4 year absence, the LIMA exhibition made a welcome
return to the exhibition circuit from 23rd to 28th May 2023. According
to official sources, 525 exhibitors from 30 nations took this
opportunity to present their aviation and aerospace equipment at the
Mahsuri Exhibition Center. The USA and France clearly scaled down their
participation, possibly because Malaysia does not have the necessary
budgets to make major purchases of planes and helicopters from these two
countries and possibly in view of the Russian participation in the daily
flying demonstrations. There were also no fly-pasts by USAF aircrafts
this year. Russia was completely absent in the exhibition center while
China clearly ramped up their presence by the participation of a great
variety of manufacturers.
Ilyushin-IL-76 Russian Air Force (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Boeing P-8A Poseidon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Lockheed CP-140 Aurora Royal Canadian Air Force (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Malaysia’s lack of budget for major military acquisitions was reflected in the low numbers of contracts being signed by Malaysia’s Ministry of Defense during the exhibition. First and foremost was of course the official signing of the contract with Korean Aerospace Industries for 18 FA-50 light attack jets worth US$ 920 Million. Malaysia may want to order another batch of 18 additional aircrafts of this type at a later stage. The aircrafts will be of the light attack type similar to the planes ordered by Poland recently. In addition, contracts were signed for 4 UH-60A Black Hawk helicopters from the USA, 3 Anka Male UAVs from Turkey and 2 ATR-72MP maritime patrol aircrafts from France.
For many visitors and all photo journalists, the daily flying demonstrations were clearly the main focus of their stay in Langkawi. After a disappointing 2019 LIMA when the Russian Knights and the Jupiter Team from Indonesia were the only foreign participants in the flying display, the fact that 5 national military aerobatic teams confirmed their participation in LIMA 2023 was quite a positive surprise to all interested persons. This prompted an influx of photographers beyond expectations, partly because photographers and spotters from the Chinese mainland were again allowed to travel abroad. As a consequence, it seemed that the majority of photographers were from the mainland, and they made their presence felt at the various hot spots, sometimes in a very negative way.
Mc Donnel-Douglas FA-18D Hornet (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
ATR-42 (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)
BaE Hawk 208 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Boeing CH-47D Chinook Rep. of Singapore Air Force (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)
Fokker F-27 Dolphin Rep. of Singapore Air Force (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)
For some unknown reasons, this year’s LIMA was scheduled for the month of May, 23rd to 28th May to be exact which raised questions whether the incidence of rain would be significantly higher than in November or February because the weather forecast for the entire period of LIMA was daily rain showers. As it turned out, there was heavy rain on the two days previous to the official opening with some dry periods which allowed some of the teams to train and do their validation flights. By the afternoon of the day prior to the opening, the Russian Knights had still not arrived and there was a lot of speculation that they would not appear in Langkawi. However, they finally arrived in the evening with 6 Su-35S aircrafts and one Su-30SM which was to be used a spare. This late arrival left them with no time for a validation flight prior to the airshow on opening day. The day of the official opening started with heavy rain showers and the opening gambit was postponed from 9 am to 10 am in the hope that the weather might improve. And lucky they were. Just before 10 am, the rain stopped and the clouds started to lift so that the opening gambit could begin right on time.
Lockheed C-130H Royal Thai Air Force (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)
Northrop F-5THF Super Tigris Royal Thai Air Force (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
Northrop F-5THF Super Tigris Royal Thai Air Force (Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
Embraer E195-E2 (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)
Embraer E195-E2 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Opening Gambit
The airshow format used in previous years was maintained with an opening gambit on Day 1 for which the Royal Malaysian Air Force are putting on a great 25-minutes show which is unequalled anywhere else in the world. There is non-stop action which is so fast that it is sometimes difficult to follow all the participants. Practically all types of aircrafts and helicopters of the RMAF are in action for this part of the program. The program shown was similar to past years with the exception that the opening pass was performed by two Su30MKM coming from behind the exhibition center. This was followed by an airshow at 2 pm with all the aerobatic teams participating. Again same as previous years, the non-public days saw one airshow demonstration per day at noon while on the public days, demonstrations were held in the morning at 10 am and in the afternoon at 2 pm.
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Black Eagles
The Black Eagles clearly participated in view of the order by Malaysia of 18 KAI FA-50 light attack aircraft which was officially signed during the first day of LIMA 2023. The reputation of this team is such that they must rank among the very best in the world. This was confirmed during LIMA and the writer considers their current show as the most attractive and most interesting of any aerobatic team in the world. The choreography is clearly the best I have seen in recent years with virtually no interruptions in the program. There is always some activity over show center and you never lose them from your sight during their 25 minutes performance.
(Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Fursan Al Emarat
The Fursat Al Emarat team from the UAE (no longer called Al Fursan) participated for the first time at LIMA. This coincided with an increased military cooperation between Malaysia and the UAE which culminated in joint military training exercises held recently in the UAE and with the visit of the Crown Prince of the UAE at LIMA 2023. Similar to the Frecce Tricolori, their show was supported by a lot of colorful thick smoke which had the habit of staying around for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, the display did not have the fluency of the other team’s performances as there were obvious timing gaps in their flying program.
Aircraft of Crown Prince of UAE (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Mc Donnell Douglas F-18D Hornet Solo
Rounding off the flying displays were RMAF’s own Sukhoi Su-30MKM and the FA-18D Hornets with attractive solo performances. In addition, their EC-725, AW-109 and MD530G helicopters presented a tactical exercise over the show center and finally, we saw the appearance of a Malaysian ex-Air Force pilot who flew aerobatics with a brand new GB1 Gamebird aerobatic aircraft.
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Sukhoi Su30MKM
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Saichol Krai-amat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
