An Italian Air Force ATR 72 maritime surveillance aircraft takes off from Malaysia in 2017. In Italian service, this aircraft is known as the P-72A. (Leonardo)

The Malaysian government has ordered two Leonardo ATR 72-600 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA).

In an announcement during the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) Exhibition 2023, on 25 May, the Malaysian Ministry of Defense (MINDEF) said that the two aircraft represented “Phase 1” of the aircraft's acquisition.

According to MINDEF, the contract has a value of MYR789.6 million (USD171.9 million). The contract partly fulfils a long-standing Malaysian requirement to improve its manned maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities.

According to Leonardo, the contract follows the selection of a proposal offered by the company and announced in October 2022. The selection covers “the supply of two ATR Special Mission aircraft in maritime patrol configuration plus the related integrated logistic support and training services”, Leonardo said in a press statement.

Argentina's few remaining A-4ARs have effectively served out their lifespans. The future of the fleet is unclear. (Santiago Rivas)

Latin American fighter fleets were regularly modernised through the 1980s, with aircraft such as the French Mirage family, British Hawker Hunter, and American F-5 Tiger II and A-4 Skyhawk flying routinely. Most regional air forces have since seen their budgets constrained and fleet renewals restricted in terms of size and capability.

Today, many Latin American countries have small fleets of old aircraft, while others like Ecuador have completely abandoned combat aviation. With many of these older aircraft at the end of their operational life, some air forces are now moving ahead with replacements, while others make do with legacy fleets. Replacement programmes are progressing slowly in most cases.

Argentina

US marines filing into an MV-22 on USS Kearsarge off the coast of North Carolina during Exercise ‘Bold Alligator' in 2012. (Janes/Mike Fabey)

Boeing's Philadelphia, Pennsylvania V-22 factory, which produces the fuselage and other major equipment for the joint Bell-Boeing tiltrotor aircraft, may close as soon as 2025, according to a Boeing official.

Discussions have begun about closing the assembly line, said Shane Openshaw, Boeing's programme manager for the V-22, on 23 May. “We're starting to have those conversations subject to additional orders coming in the pipeline,” he said. “I would project probably two more years [of assembly].”

The assembly line also converts Block B V-22s to Block C, upgrading processors, wiring harnesses, and electrical components and reducing subvariants from about 72 to 5, according to Openshaw.

The US Navy (USN) in February released a solicitation for “non-recurring engineering to support the V-22 production line shut down,” disclosing that the Bell-Boeing joint venture that produced the tiltrotor would be awarded the contract. The solicitation did not include a public timeframe for the closure.