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
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