U.S. Navy Delivers First Upgraded CN-235 Aircraft to RMAF 

The U.S. Navy has delivered the first of three Royal Malaysian Air Force CN-235 military transport aircraft converted to a maritime patrol platform.  U.S. NAVY

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The U.S. Navy has delivered the first of three Royal Malaysian Air Force CN-235 military transport aircraft converted to a maritime patrol platform, the Naval Air Systems Command said Aug. 3. This comes just three and a half years after the U.S. signed a letter of offer and acceptance to begin increasing the capability and interoperability of U.S. and Malaysian forces. 

The effort was facilitated by the U.S. Navy’s Building Partner Capacity program, aligned with the U.S. government’s Maritime Security Initiative, which is intended to assist the Malaysian government in increasing maritime security and maritime domain awareness within the Malaysian Exclusive Economic Zone. 

The project to integrate an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance upgrade into the aircraft was undertaken by the Malaysian air force in cooperation with the Naval Air Systems Command’s Security Cooperation Office and Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s AIRWorks. 

“Our collective international team has overcome tremendous challenges during the recent worldwide pandemic to deliver this capability. We are excited to deliver this first aircraft,” said Gerald Swift, who leads AIRWorks, NAWCAD’s office focused on rapidly and effectively delivering warfighter capability to meet immediate and emergent warfighter needs. 

The upgrade includes a maritime surveillance mission suite, maritime surveillance radar, an electro-optical infrared turret, line-of-sight datalink and a roll-on/roll-off mission system operator station. Compatible mobile and fixed ground stations are also being delivered to increase the Malaysian air force’s ISR capability. 

The project’s CN-235s were flown to Indonesia for completion and testing in Sept. 2020 amid COVID-19 restrictions and first flight took place in October 2021. Work on the two remaining CN-235 aircraft and multiple ground stations continues and is expected to be completed in 2022. 

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