Originally posted by ^Delta^:
I believe that the Malaysian F/A-18s can still be used in any conflict environment, with or without clearance from the USA.
Take for example Iranian F-14s, F-4s and F-5s which played a major role in the 8 year conflict with Iraq in the 1980s, providing not only air defence but also ground attack. At that point of time, Iraq was viewed as a de-facto ally against the ruling Iranian Ayatollah regime, yet Iran was still able to effectively employ its mainly American built arsenal against Iraq.
Another case to note is Venezuela, where its relations with the US have not been exactly cosy recently, yet its F-16s are still very much operational, abeit on a reduced basis, but nevertheless their potential to be used in any conflict should not be discounted.
If Malaysia's fleet of F/A-18s cannot be used readily, the same could be said for our F-16s, or the F-16s of the Royal Thai Air force for that matter. Source code issues are indeed relevant for modifying existing aircraft to carry other kinds of foreign weapons, such as Israeli missiles on F-16s, but firing and launching existing weapons already cleared for carriage should not be a problem at all. It would seem illogical for the US to clear every missile launch for a country involved in a high intensity conflict.
Dr M is just give poor excuse for their air force again !!!
Who will be a idiot to buy a plane that you cannot use freely to bomb and attack !!! It is under his term, so now he is complaining about his own poor management of his team , sort of shooting himself in the foot