This is a discussion on Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) update within the Navy & Maritime forum, part of the Global Defense & Military category; BOUSTEAD HEAVY INDUSTRIES CORPORATION BHD (“BHIC” OR “THE COMPANY”) – RECEIPT OF LETTER OF AWARD TO UNDERTAKE THE CONSTRUCTION OF ...
BOUSTEAD HEAVY INDUSTRIES CORPORATION BHD (“BHIC” OR “THE COMPANY”) – RECEIPT OF LETTER OF AWARD TO UNDERTAKE THE CONSTRUCTION OF SIX (6) SECOND GENERATION PATROL VESSEL – LITTORAL COMBAT SHIPS (FRIGATE CLASS)
Announcement Details/Table Section :
Further to the announcement made on 18 October 2010, the Company wishes to inform that its associate company, Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn. Bhd. had received the Letter of Award dated 16 December 2011 from the Ministry of Defence Malaysia for the Contract to design, construct, equip, install, commission, integrate, test and trials, and deliver six (6) units of “Second Generation Patrol Vessels Littoral Combat Ships (Frigate Class)” (“the Contract”). The Contract carries a ceiling of RM 9.0 billion, to be implemented over three (3) Malaysia Plans, 10, 11 and 12. The delivery of the First of Class ship is estimated in 2017 with follow on ships every 6 months thereafter.
The Contract will have no material effect on the earnings of the Company for the financial year ending 31 December 2011, but will contribute positively to the future earnings of BHIC Group.
None of the Directors nor Substantial Shareholders of the Company, or persons connected with them, has any interest, direct or indirect, in the Contract.
Any one got info on her weapons and makeup...read somewhere that RMN
is requesting to up-armed her Kedah class OPVs...
What's her weapons choice ?
Interesting situation as South China Sea will be busy with armed vessels due
to Shi Lang pending arrival..
Any one got info on her weapons and makeup...read somewhere that RMN]
A model was shown at the recent LIMA exhibition showing it armed with a Bofors 57mm Mk3, a 16 cell VLS [believed to be for ESSM], the usual 8 MM-40s and 2 secondary guns mounted on top the hangar. The 2 triple torp tubes are not visible due to the design.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ma5k3r
is requesting to up-armed her Kedah class OPVs...
What's her weapons choice ?
Already integrated for RAM and the MM-40 but this is unlikely to happen soon.
A 40 minute documentary on the RMNs Scorpenes. The sub-titles are a bit off though and may have been added by the person who uploaded the video. Lots of nice internal footage.
Kuala Lumpur: Aside from maintaining two Scorpene submarines, the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) plans to buy more submarines to boost the national's naval defence capability, said Navy chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar.
He said, however, the plan could not be implemented in the near term due to budget constraints while time was needed to train naval officers on the fundamental skills in submarine operations and gained the experience.
"The skills and experience are needed to ensure that the submarines can be operated safely and effectively," he told Bernama. The navy took delivery of two Scorpene submarines costing RM3.4 billion from France in 2009 and 2010.
Abdul Aziz said he was satisfied with the performance of both submarines after three years in operation to protect national waters from invasion and encroachment.
"I am proud to have received letters of commendation from distinguished guests, who have taken a dive on the submarines, including the Sultan of Terengganu Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng," said Abdul Aziz.
On the 78th Royal Malaysian Navy Day celebration tomorrow, he said the theme 'Innovative Personnel engender Transformation' manifested the navy vision to be a world-class entity through a culture of innovation.
Describing the challenges faced by the navy as "software and hardware", he said: "The first challenge is to retain skilled personnel in the service due to competition, and attractive and lucrative offers awaiting them in the corporate world.
"The second challenge is to maintain the level of preparedness of naval assets, especially involving aging assets as they are getting obsolete, and technological development."
On piracy threats especially in the Straits of Melaka, he said naval boats were intensifying patrols in identified hot spots besides conducting integrated operations jointly with maritime agencies from neighbouring countries. -- Bernama
i think we need to address gaps in our capability first such as LSD or LST. The reality is malaysia is divided into east and west. Mobility will be critical is addressing external threats. However, we should look into Asean procurement instead of individual procurement to maximise value. Not a political acceptable solution for now because of the social role defence budget plays for local politics...but who knows one day
[QUOTE=simbad;245327]i think we need to address gaps in our capability first such as LSD or LST. The reality is malaysia is divided into east and west. Mobility will be critical is addressing external threats. However, we should look into Asean procurement instead of individual procurement to maximise value. Not a political acceptable solution for now because of the social role defence budget plays for local politics...but who knows one day[/QUOTE
indeed i agree rmn should look into acquiring more surface vessels as prescribed.
malaysia also should increase her military industrial capability to meet her urgent demands.
check this news about lpd replacement...
what i dont understand is that rmn should look to procure excess western assets..if it is economical since they are combat ready. DEFENSE STUDIES: MALAYSIA
i think for naval vessels we are capable of construction but lack of cantinuity in policy affects private sector planning for retention and building of capacity. Note the Mustari OPV , the new training vessel, the hydrographic vessel.....hopefully Boustead ND will be allowed constant award of projects to build capability especially design later.
Buying second hand, there must be balance between price, capability and availability. Buy a 20 year ship comes with all the repairs and maintenance issues. And a 20 year old ship comes with a crew of 200 instead of a modern ship using 70. So to me buy new, produce under license, use less manpower. You can however allow less installed weapons. The kedah OPV class with main gun, torpedoes, 2 exocets, and a RAM will be adequate for self protection. throw in some 0.5 brownings. It may not stand up to Chinese navy but its enough contribution to a multi national alied fleet. (lets face it , if the future threat is China, only collectively asean can stand against them).
Whats the design advances that gowind have over MEKO?
Who is our perceived future threat? China? if so do we need numbers ie 6 or 3 but more capability or 8 smaller, just south china sea capable......i wonder what is the strategic fit on the design choice.
i think we need to address gaps in our capability first such as LSD or LST.
The RMN first indentified a need for another LST several years ago, way before the loss of KD Inderapura. The problem here is the size of the defence budget and the need to meet other priorities. Many would argue, with great justification, that the cash spent on the 2 Scorpenes would have been better used on new LSTs and helicopters, as these as far as the RMN operational responsibilities go, have more peacetime utility than SSKs. The RMNs main problem IMO is a shortage of hulls for day to day patrols and sea lift, not its inability to participate in full scale naval engagements in the South China Sea against a foreign country.
Quote:
Originally Posted by simbad
are we buying ESSM or MICA. Which is better?
On paper, ESSM unlike MICA, has a capability to deal with supersonic threats and has a longer range [very dependent on onboard sensors]. ESSM was originally selected for the Lekiu Batch 2s due to the price tag of ASTER 15, which was reportedly the RMNs preferred choice then. Whether or not ESSM can indeed deal with supersonic missles is another story as only simulations and tests against subsonic missiles have been performed but overall, ESSM would be a better choice for the LCS.
Quote:
Originally Posted by simbad
Who is our perceived future threat? China? if so do we need numbers ie 6 or 3 but more capability or 8 smaller, just south china sea capable.......
Though Malaysia does not say so publicly, its main concern since the Confrontation has always been Indonesia, due to a number of factors. The great concern now is Ambalat, as an encounter at sea between RMN and TNI-AL ships in the disputed area could rapidly spiral out of control with dangerous consenquences.The good news is both countries recently agreed not to detain fishing trawlers that have crossed the maritime boundaries but to 'chase' them away, doing away with a potential source of conflict.
Malaysia sees China more as a source of concern rather than a direct threat and one thing Malaysia has to its advantage is that of all the reefs that are claimed by China and are occupied by other countries, Malaysia's 5 reefs or islands are the furthest away from the Chinse mainland. Anyhow, irrespective of how larger or capable the RMN is or how much the defence budget is raised, Malaysia will never be able to compete with China militarily. In parallel with maintaining its longstanding ties with Uncle Sam, a country that Malaysia trains more regularly with than any other country [USN visits to Malaysia are now at at all time high], Malaysia will continue to seek good ties with China and will continue to say publicly that it see China sas a partner not a threat.
I heard however we are going for MICA on the Gowinds. I dont know how good is MICA against SSM's. Nevertheless, are our ships networked with one another. i.e i can see what another ship see??. How does the current Kedah integrate with theGowind when the CMS are of different design.
On the shortage of hull we should buy or develop low cost solutions such as the River class OPV or the NZ Waikato(is it) OPV. A large hull for seakeeping, space for additional landing party and just a small EO assisted gun for self defence. surface and navigation radars. A helideck with hangar for Lynx sized helis. Without any idea of how it cost, logic tells me relative to hull the electronics and sensors do make up a lot. An OPV and a corvette could be the same 1000 MT but the thing that tips the scale are the weapons and sensors.
I heard however we are going for MICA on the Gowinds. I dont know how good is MICA against SSM's. Nevertheless, are our ships networked with one another. i.e i can see what another ship see??. How does the current Kedah integrate with theGowind when the CMS are of different design.
The RMN would like ESSM as the ESSM on paper, is a much more capable missile than MICA but as usual in Malaysia, politics will come into play and the end users who know best as to what they need will be overuled by the politicans. To me it seems a bit pointless to spent all that money on the LCS, to only have it equipped with a short range system that is unable to deal with supersonic threats.
Quote:
Originally Posted by simbad
Nevertheless, are our ships networked with one another. i.e i can see what another ship see??. How does the current Kedah integrate with theGowind when the CMS are of different design.
Only the Lekiu and Laksamana class are fitted with Link Y. The Kasturi class, as part of its SLEP, will also receive Link Y. As far as integration and network centric capability goes, the RMN is way behind other navies. It will be safe to assume that the LCS will also receive Link Y.
Quote:
Originally Posted by simbad
TOn the shortage of hull we should buy or develop low cost solutions such as the River class OPV or the NZ Waikato(is it) OPV. A large hull for seakeeping, space for additional landing party and just a small EO assisted gun for self defence. surface and navigation radars. A helideck with hangar for Lynx sized helis. Without any idea of how it cost, logic tells me relative to hull the electronics and sensors do make up a lot. An OPV and a corvette could be the same 1000 MT but the thing that tips the scale are the weapons and sensors.
What you have described would be ideal for the MMEA that in theory is meant to perform a number of day to day, peacetime roles, with the RMN being able to concentrate on other tasks. As for electronics, all that would be needed is a surface search radar, navigation radar and perhaps an elctro-optical sight. The problem again is money, as no cash has been allocated for the MMEA to receive or operate new ships.
