Malaysian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers

Copyright © 2004 Jos Heyman
(HTML formatting by Andreas Parsch)

The Royal Malaysian Air Force, known as Tentera Udara di Raja Persekutuan, was established on 1 June 1958. It was renamed as Tentara Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) on 16 September 1963.

Initially aircraft were serialled in the sequential order in which aircraft were received in a format of FM (for Federation of Malaysia) followed by 4 numerials. Eg FM1001 was a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer, the first aircraft serialled under this system. Later FM serials were assigned out of sequence, eg Australian CA-27 Sabres carried an FM number based on their Australian serial, at first, and their construction number, at a later date. Also at a later date, there is a suggestion that serials were assigned in blocks, with the first two characters identifying the type, eg two Fokker F-28s acquired in 1975 were serialled FM2101 and FM2102 whilst the first batch of Lockheed Hercules, acquired in 1976, were serialled FM2401/2406.

In the mid 1980s a designation system, not unlike the Australian designation system, was introduced in which the aircraft type was identified by a M number, followed by a sequential serial number. The M series was commence with M20 and all existing aircraft were reserialled. The reason for commencing with M20 is not clear but may have been a loose recognition that there had been aircraft type in service before this new system was introduced. In general serial numbers have been issued sequentially, although there has been one instance were sub-types were assigned serials in block numbers.

M Number

Type

Serials

M20

Aerospatiale Alouette III

M20-01/29

M21

De Havilland Canada DHC-4A Caribou

M21-01/18

M22

Canadair CL-41G Tebuan

M22-01/11

M23

Sikorsky S-61A-4 Nuri

M23-01/42

M24

H.S. HS.125-400B

M24-01/02

M25

Scottish Aviation Bulldog 102

M25-01/13

M26

Bell 47G Sioux

M26-01/08

M27

Cessna 402B Utililiner

M27-01/12

M28

Fokker F-28

M28-01/02

M29

Northrop F-5E, F-5F, RF-5E, F-5E

M29-01/14, M29-15/18, M29-19/20, M29-21/22

M30

Lockheed C-130H Hercules

M30-01/16

M31

Canadair CL-600 Challenger

M31-01/02

M32

Douglas TA-4PTM, A-4PTM

M32-01/06, M32-07/40

M33

Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer

M33-01/44

M34

Macchi MB.339AM

M34-01/13

M35

Grumman HU-16B Albatross

M35-01/02

M36

Aerospatiale AS 332L

M36-01

M37

Dassault Falcon 900

M37-01

M38

Agusta A.109C

M38-01/06

M39

Sikorsky-Agusta AS-61NS Sea King

M39-01/02

M40

BAe Hawk 100, 200

M40-01/10, M40-21/38

M41

Beech 200 Super King Air

M41-01/04

M42

SME MD3-160

M42-01/20

M43

Mikoyan MiG-29N

M43-01/18

M44

CASA-Nurtanio CN-235

M44-01/06

M45

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18D

M45-01/08

M46

Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk

M46-01/02

M47

Canadair Regional Jet

M47-01

M48

Canadair BD700 Global Express

M48-01

M49

Mil Mi-17

M49-01/02

M50

Pilatus PC-7 Mk 2

M50-01/09+

(M51)

(No confirmed data; possibly Eagle 150 ARV ?)

M52

Bombardier BD700

(not taken up?)

M53

Boeing 737-700BBJ

M53-01

Earlier types not in M series

 

Percival Provost T.51

 

 

Handley Page Herald

 

 

NAA(CAC) F-86 (CA-27 Sabre 32)

 

 

Scottish Aviation Pioneer CC.1,2

 

 

Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer

 

Recently the Royal Malaysian Navy, known as Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia (TLDM), has adopted a similar designation system in the M500 series.

M Number

Type

Serials

M499

Westland Wasp HAS.1

 

(M500)

(No confirmed data; possibly Beech 1900T ?)

M501

Westland Super Lynx

M501-01/06

M502

Aérospatiale AS555 Fennec

 

Earlier types not in M series

 

Beech 1900T

 




Comments and corrections to: Andreas Parsch

 

Back to Non-U.S. Military Aircraft and Missile Designations home page




Last Updated: 7 September 2004