Malaysia has signed a deal with Agusta SpA of Italy to buy 11 Agusta A109 light reconnaissance helicopters worth RM286 million for the army's air wing, local media reported today.

"We have waited a long time for this," Defence Minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times .

"We found that the Agusta is well-suited for our needs in terms of its range, the altitude it can reach and its hovering abilities," Najib said.

The helicopters, equipped with 70 millimetre rockets and 20 millimetre machine guns, are expected to be delivered from December 2005.

When the idea of an army air wing was first mooted the focus was on procuring attack helicopters, with previous contenders for the contract being Boeing's Apache attack helicopter and the South African Rooivalk by Denel.

"The helicopters can be used for reconaissance, security operations, limited fire support, command and control functions, air observation posts and search and rescue," Najib said.

The contract includes technical support and training.

Malaysia recently embarked on a major arms spree , agreeing to buy Russian fighter jets for US$900 million, French submarines for US$972 million, British and Russian missile systems for US$364 million and Polish attack tanks worth US$368 million. - AFP