SINGAPORE -- Announced at the 2020 Singapore Airshow, Malaysia intends to retrofit three of their Indonesian-built CN-235 transport aircraft to an unarmed maritime surveillance role. The upgrade will be performed for the purpose of enhancing maritime security.
Funding for the retrofit program will be pulled from the Maritime Security Initiative fund, a U.S. military program announced in 2015 by then-U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter. The program was launched to provide financial assistance to Asia-Pacific nations with a need to improve their maritime security capabilities, but that lack the budgetary flexibility to do so. The MSI set aside a total of $425 million over a five-year period.
Retrofit work will be done by PT Dirgantara Indonesia, who has previously performed CN-235 MSA conversions for the Indonesian Navy and Air Force. While no details about the Malaysian conversions have been released as of press time, the retrofit of the Indonesian fleet installed the Merlin maritime surveillance mission suite developed by U.S. company Integrated Surveillance and Defense.
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