SHAH ALAM: Happy Belated Birthday LCS. Yesterday, marked the seventh birthday of the RMN Littoral Combat Ship. Yes its the seventh birthday of the LCS, as Dec. 3, 2014 was the date of the first steel cutting for the LCS at the premises of IHC Metalix company in Amsterdam, Holland.
Of course someone could also rightly claimed that the LCS actual birthday is Dec. 17 as it was on this day that the contract for the six ships was signed in 2011. If one choose this date, the LCS is already ten years old then.
Or she would be five years old if one used as the launch of the keel of the first LCS – Maharaja Lela – on March 8, 2016 (see picture above).
What ever the date one choose, the first of class PCU Maharaja Lela remained incomplete, in the shipyard at Lumut as the government ponders on approving the plan laid out by BNS to salvage the project. With just 26 days before the new year, there is still no announcement of the approval though the Defence Ministry has said that the first ship will be delivered in 2025.
It must be noted that the contract signed in 2011 said that the first ship would be delivered to the RMN in 2017 but the contract was amended in 2014 to allow the first to be delivered in 2019, with subsequent ships to be delivered one by one until 2025.
— Malaysian Defence
Happy Belated Birthday LCS
LCS PCU Maharaja Lela. Her name could be seen on the stern. Picture taken on Aug. 23. 2017. The picture was taken on the open upper deck of a Pangkor ferry. Malaysian Defence picture
View Comments (6)
and yesterday new gowind corvette launched for UAE navy. where were the mistakes? 7 years, at least 3-4 our ships already roaming around our seas.
Observer
Yes, the first UAE gowind was launched and is floating in the water yesterday. That milestone was achieved just 2 years from the contract signing by UAE.
In contrast, none of the malaysian Gowinds has touched the water yet...
compared to malaysia, the indian military's procurement processes must look like greased lightning.
Chong,
Not really. The Indians have much more political/bureacratic issues at play which is much more ingrained than it is here, although it is a major problem/obstacle here.
Ultimately the bulk of purchaces worldwide are poltically driven but a fine line has to be drawn between poltical imperitives and ensuring the end user gets the desired capability and the taxpayer's their money's worth.
Last Saturday, Naval Group had launched UAE's 1st Gowind which was ordered in 2019
https://euro-sd.com/2021/12/news/sea/24745/first-gowind/
Sorry if I just added more salt to the pain
@Chong Chin Chai
Despite the vastly better equipped Indian Forces, the average Msian soldier would still trust their rifle as compared their Indian counterpart's questionable INSAS rifle. Or despite the smaller size, we have an air fleet much younger & safer compared to IAF which still uses MIG 21s. Or that we haven't had a major maritime disaster like INS Sindhurakshak. I think we're rather blessed despite the fact that we're underequipped.