CNO: Malaysia Offers U.S. P-8 Detachment Site

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

ARLINGTON, Va. — Malaysia has offered the use of a base in East Malaysia on the island of Borneo to the United States as a site for detachments of Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

Speaking Sept. 8 about the Asia-Pacific strategic rebalance to an audience at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) ADM Jonathan W. Greenert said that “recently, the Malaysians have offered us to fly detachments of P-8s out of East Malaysia. You can see the closeness to the South China Sea. So we have opportunities and we ought to continue to nurture them.”

A staging site in East Malaysia would enable the Navy’s maritime patrol aircraft easier access for operating over the South China Sea and shipping lanes such as the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait, through which much of the world’s commerce passes.

Malaysia allowed Navy P-8A and P-3C aircraft to operate from West Malaysia during the search for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared on March 8. The Malaysian government expressed appreciation to the United States for its response.

The South China Sea has been a region of increased tensions in recent years because of competing claims over islands and shoals where mineral resources may exist and because of the Chinese naval build-up, particularly the submarine base on Hainan. There have been several incidents at sea involving Chinese coast guard ships and U.S. Navy warships and ocean surveillance ships and aircraft in international waters off China. The most recent involved a Chinese J-11 fighter flying dangerously close to a U.S. Navy P-8A over the South China Sea in late August.

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I bet the gomen wont pay cash for this sea basing....the arrangement would be similar to bunga emas5 and bunga emas 6....those 2 ships were leased indefinitely for RM 1 per ship from MISC.....

RMN indeed dirt poor.... They already did that to Bunga emas 5 and bunga emas 6 ... They leased both ships for RM 1 ( satu ringgit) per ship indefinitely from MISC and even crewed by civilians/reservist .....

Whats about Mistral ?

From France MOD's twitter....

Is that KD Tunku Abdul Rahman ?