South Korean Defence Minister Lee Jong Sup is scheduled to pay a four-day visit to Malaysia starting today to hold discussions on defence industry cooperation as well as attend the signing ceremony for the sale of the FA-50 Block 20 light fighter aircraft.

South Korean news agency, Yonhap in its report said Lee will meet his Malaysian counterpart, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Lee will hold discussions with the two Malaysian leaders about defence cooperation between the two countries, in addition to attending the Langkawi International Air and Maritime Exhibition 2023 (LIMA ’23).

The LIMA ’23 exhibition which starts tomorrow until May 27 brings together hundreds of defence companies from all over the world, as well as being attended by the commanders of the armed forces and their senior officers.

According to Yonhap, Lee will attend the signing ceremony for the export of the FA-50 aircraft to Malaysia and he will also express South Korea’s commitment to further strengthen defence industry cooperation with the Southeast Asian country.

Last February, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and the Malaysian Ministry of Defence signed a Letter of Intent for the procurement of 18 FA-50 Block 20 light fighter aircraft.

The letter of intent was signed between the President and Chief Executive Officer of KAI, KANG Goo Young and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense Datuk Seri Muez Abdul Aziz.

The FA-50 Block 20 is the latest and most capable variant of the FA-50 aircraft. In addition to Malaysia, Poland also chose the FA-50 Block 20 variant.

As previously reported by Defence Security Asia, the FA-50 Block 20 light fighter variant offered to the RMAF will be equipped with the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) “PhantomStrike” radar developed by the United States defense company, Raytheon Intelligence & Space.

The information obtained also confirms that the FA-50 Block 20 aircraft offered to the RMAF will be equipped with the same U/VHF radio equipment used by the latest variant of the F-16 Block 70 fighter aircraft.

In addition, the FA-50 Block 20 aircraft offered to the RMAF will also be equipped with “Link 16 Block Upgrade 2”.

The FA-50 Block 20 aircraft variant was also previously reported to be equipped with the Air-To-Air Refueling Probe (AAR Probe) facility, which is the “Cobham Mission System” developed by the Cobham company from the United Kingdom.