The first of 18 FA-50M light combat jets Malaysia ordered from Korea Aerospace Industries has arrived in the country, starting deliveries that are due to run through 2028.
Defense Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin watched the Royal Malaysian Air Force jet land at Labuan Air Base, where it stopped on the way from South Korea to its home at Kuantan Air Base, the Defense Ministry said.
He was briefed on the aircraft’s capabilities and delivery by Maj. Mohd Jamil Awang, commanding officer of the air force’s No. 15 Squadron, and met the pilots. Air Force Chief Gen. Muhamad Norazlan Aris and Defense Ministry Secretary-General Lokman Hakim Ali also attended.
The FA-50 is the light combat member of KAI’s T-50 jet family. The ministry described the purchase, worth nearly 4 billion ringgit ($981 million), as a strategic step in modernizing the air force, and said the jets will be based at Kuantan to strengthen operational readiness and training and to develop the country’s fighter pilots under its 2026-2030 national defense strategic plan.
Malaysia had weighed the FA-50 against India’s Tejas and other designs for its light combat aircraft program.
FlightGlobal reported that a pair of jets, serials M58-01 and M58-02, flew from KAI’s Sacheon factory to Kuantan, and that they came with a new AESA radar. The ministry’s statement referred to a single aircraft.
Malaysia becomes the fourth Southeast Asian operator of the T-50 family, after Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, and joins European users such as Poland, which is setting up local engine support for its FA-50s.
Defense ties between the two countries have widened since the order. In October 2025, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur signed a government-to-government defense pact covering fighter jets, naval ships and missile systems.
The remaining 17 aircraft are scheduled to arrive in stages through 2028, the ministry said.