SHAH ALAM: THE LCS and NGPV will be the backbone of the future RMN armada – if the plan proposed by the navy to have only five class of vessels in the fleet – is taken up and fully funded. The other three classes are the submarines, Littoral Mission Ships (LMS) and Multi-Role Support Ship (MRSS).
RMN chief Admiral Ahmad Kamarulzaman Baharuddin said the 15-to-5 fleet transformation was part of its plan to strengthen and modernise its armada and be cost effective at the same time.
“If the transformation programme is endorsed by the government the replacement process will be done in stages. We will focus on building ships from the five classes harnessing the abilities of the local industry,” he told reporters after presenting promotions to RMN officers at KD Sri Gombak yesterday.
Kamarulzaman said as the navy realised that fiscal challenges was the biggest obstacle in modernising the fleet, they want to prioritise RMN’s requirements.
“In the past, we may want the best platform available to meet our requirements but in reality we cannot afford them. So we are looking at ways to meet the challenges,” he added.
Under the transformation plan, RMN will also retire old ships as it was too expensive to maintain them. The money saved would be used to buy new ships of the five classes. Both the LMS and the MRSS are still in conceptual stage at this stage, however.
According to Kamarulzaman, the LMS will be smaller, less capable and more importantly, less expensive than the LCS. It will be multi-mission ship capable of conducting patrols and other duties. Both the LMS and MRSS and the rest of the future armada will be locally built to reduce the procurement and maintenance costs.
Kamarulzaman did not explained what kind of MRSS is being envisioned by the navy. He pointed out that despite having five class of ships, the number of vessels in the future fleet will be much bigger than the present one. He did not specify numbers.
On the LCS, Kamarulzaman declined to confirm the missiles nor the engines specified by the six-class ships being build at Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) in Lumut. Asked whether the NSM and the VL MICA had been confirmed, he said the announcement will be made when the ships are completed.
On the engines, Kamarulzaman declined to say whether it will latest propulsion system to enhance underwater acoustic signature. It is likely that the LCS will be fitted with four diesel engines in the CODAD configuration – just like the Lekiu and Kasturi classes. He also said the name of the ships and pennant numbers are still under consideration.
By the way we may operate at least several variants of the LCS if we go by the infographics blasted by the Defence Minister social media team on Wednesday.
When told that they had used the wrong CGIs, the handlers replied that it was just for illustration purpose only. And they will have the correct graphics once the LCS is completed!
News Analysis
If you think why the NGPV (six ships) classification is maintained, well, Kamarulzaman seemed to want more of the Kedah class. In an interview with Janes (access via paid subscription) late last year, Kamarulzaman stated that they would like to get at least 12 more of an improved version of the Kedah class.
For me at least, the NGPV is a dead end. To improve it meant more money is needed to be invested . If money is available it should be spend on more LCS instead. It’s a newer design and any improvement to the current design will not need as much money compared to a ship which is already out of production.
As for the LMS, if the design remained as it is we might as well buy them from Singapore.
Anyhow, even if the transformation plan is green-lighted – which will cost some RM30 billion (my estimate) – it is unlikely that funding will be made available in the next few years due to the current economic headwinds. Any money available will be consumed by the LCS as the government seek to ensure its completion.
How they are going to save money by building warships locally is beyond me. Especially what had happened in the last decade or so especially with the NGPV and the training ships. We end up paying more, not just the direct costs of the ships but also indirect ones as older vessels are retained beyond their out-service-dates.
While they might save some money by building the hulls locally (though the steel still need to be imported as we do not produce them locally) the majority of the ship’s components still need to be imported. Furthermore we end up paying more as the shipyard will need to buy them from the middlemen. For example, for the NGPV and LCS, the only major component being sourced locally are the fire control radars.
And it is unlikely any local company will be able to come up with a marine engine design as good as the Germans. Unless, we followed what China did, simply copy them. Or we could just buy their ships!
Yes, China made ships (and components) are a lot cheaper than Western and even Eastern ones. The question remains do we really want our fleet to carry the Made in China tag?
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (44)
Our deficit this year is predicted at around rm40 bilion. I hope mr najib can find a way to reduce it .more subsidies cut please.
Any money for the navy's plan would be after 2020, during rmk12.
Current budget has been mostly spent on the gowinds and sub refit.
Its good to hear the navy chief's plan is realistic, and is looking to add a lower specced ship (with a current in service design too) than the gowinds. Hope the chief of the airforce could be as grounded to the realities like him.
As for my ideas on how to get the meko100 design up to date, fully armed and cheaper than the previous iteration, that is for another reply...
Reply
As for Mek100 design, write something around 1,000 words and I will used it as a guest post.
I ok go for more Meko although it not the latest technology but it design is consider a model vessel which almost same like F-2000. As patrol vessel, it can help RMN for at less coming 30 years...
It will cheaper than we get LCS. we already have the right to produce it, so it not a major problem for us to restart it again. yes, restart a project may cost a lot but if RMN serious to get 12 of it.. that cost is cheaper and it cheaper than we try to import a new vessel (except source from china)
Is RMN planning to arm the Kedah class to be on par with the Gowind or something more low-key? And can someone please explain to me the rationale of having both the NGPV and LMS? (serious question)
@ anas
The kedah/ngpv would be something that would slot below the gowind in capability, not on par capability wise. That should also mean a lower overall (aquiring and operating) cost than the gowind (not including what happened during the PSC saga of course)
The LMS although without clear info from tldm, a guesstimate:
- Something smaller and faster than the ngpv, optimised for near shore operations (selat melaka, esscom area)
- equipped for surveillance, intercepting, boarding and destroying fast hostile boats, rhibs, bot pancong. Means dedicated boarding teams, fast rhibs, armoring for small arms fire, small ASM but in larger quantities to combat swarming attacks etc.
- Probably mine hunting equipment to replace mahamiru capability, using mostly long range remotely controlled mine hunting equipments. Interchangeable equipment or specific hulls built for minehunting but with 90% commonality with normal hulls.
I believe it could be done. 18 fully armed NGPV, 18 LCS and 24 LMS will be a potent force to reckon with. Plus 8-12 subs and around 6 MRSS, I'm sure our navy will be highly respected and become a major deterrent factor for any potential occupying force.
This could be emulated by the air force as well, to have a few aircraft types with more numbers in quantity for each type, a major factor to reduce acquisition and operating cost, whilst opening the possibility of manufacturing those aircrafts locally.
I guess the said have been done for the army, we have gained the expertise to produce some of our land systems requirement, more potential could be explored to manufacture lots more to fulfill our land forces needs.
The coming DSA 2016 will be a great venue to check out what and how we have progressed so far, since its inception nearly 30 years ago.
Wish Malaysia all the best in becoming a major defence equipment producer and exporter in the future. Its been a long and winding journey.
Nanono
Are u on meds or something bro?? Joking aside theres simply not enough money to go around.. yes its a dream. But a wet dream. Im just hoping that the Lcs is delivered on time and on budget. But looking back at the ngpv and training vessels saga... it doesnt look good guys.
@ nanonano
I don't think we have the budget to aquire and maintain that much number of new ships.
Even with the best case scenario, I think in rmk12 the navy would be allocated usd3 billion, around rm13 billion.
That would be good for probably:
6 additional ngpv plus upgrades to the current 6 (usd 1.2bil)
No additional gowinds
9 LMS (usd 0.6bil)
1 additional scorpene (usd 0.7bil, only way to get more or cheaper is to go used, or mini subs)
2 MRSS (chinese LPD) (usd 0.2bil)
Probably could get a bit more cash is to sell off the quite new f2000 frigates and the older fs1500 corvettes, at most you could get usd300-400million for them.
My silly idea for the future rmn frigate aka LCS fleet is... Sell off all the f2000 and fs1500 after we have at least 4 gowinds in commission (that would probably be in 2021). Consolidate frigate/LCS fleet with gowind and... I know this is a radical idea... used french lafayette frigates. Buy all 5 lafayette frigates (they are to be replaced by FTI multimission frigate) and refit/slep them in lumut. So the LCS fleet would consist of 6 gowinds and 5 lafayettes. Name the 5 lafayettes with laksamana melaka names (hang tuah and friends).
@...
Thanks. So, the NGPV class will be patrol/combat patrol corvette and the LMS would be multi-purpose FAC/missile boat?
Marhalim, there's something wrong with the 'im not a spam bot' button..
"18 fully armed NGPV, 18 LCS and 24 LMS"
Sounds like we'll be increasing the navy's development budget by 5X at least, and enlarging many of our base piers, dock yards and ordnance depots. We'll have to recruit, train, pay and house many new sailors.
I get that we need more patrol hulls, but why do we need such a large battle force? Are there even enough operational scenarios to employ them?