The government has not yet made any decision to acquire the Russian-made Sukhoi 30 Mk fighter jet as part of its airforce modernisation plan, Defence minister Najib Razak said today.

"We have not made any decision. There are people who probably jumped the gun," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

Najib was commenting on a report in the Indian daily The Hindu on Sunday that India and Russia will jointly manufacture a variant of the Sukhoi 30 for Malaysia.

India's state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said earlier this month it would manufacture 140 Russian-designed Sukhoi 30 Mk fighter jets with an investment of 650 million dollars.

HAL plans to begin making the Sukhoi 30 Mk in 2003 and the first aircraft will be handed over to the Malaysian air force by 2004, The Hindu daily said.

The combined fleet of India and Malaysia's SU 30 Mk fighter aircraft could significantly blunt China's edge in the Asia as it has the largest number of Su aircraft in the region, the daily said.

Initial stage

Najib said the matter was still in the "proposal acceptance process" from the product manufacturer in Russia.

Bernama said the Sukhoi jetfighters are among those said to be considered by Malaysia for the Royal Malaysian Air Force as part of Malaysia's military upgrading process.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Najib were in Russia last month to witness a demonstration of the aircraft's capabilities.