SHAH ALAM: It appears that Lumut Naval Shipyard (Lunas) has installed the integrated mast on the first LCS, PCU Maharaja Lela. The installation of the mast was published yesterday on Lunas Facebook page as Stories, the short video version on the social media platform.
It is unclear when the mast was installed but it may have taken a few days from early this week. From the video post, it is likely that the Thales SMART-S Mk2 air and surface surveillance radar had been installed on the ship when it was still on the hard stand.
It was for this reason as temporary radome was placed on top of it in May. As mentioned before the integrated mast is part of the sensor system of the Gowind corvette. Naval Group called it the Panoramic Sensors and Intelligence Mast (PSIM).
The Naval Group-designed PSIM combines an integrated mast, complete with the main radar (Thales Smart-S Mark 2 3D radar) under the radome and all the other sensors, plus the operations rooms and the associated equipment compartments into a single module.
Anyhow, from the video, it appears only the SMART-S radar has been installed on the integrated mast apart what appears to a number of weather vanes. It is likely that the navigation radars and electronic support measure devices (radar and communication) will be installed later.
Do note that this will be my last posting on such updates on Maharaja Lela until she starts her harbour trials (unless something big happens of course). There will be many further updates on the ship before she starts her harbour trials which is planned this December.
— Malaysian Defence
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Interesting to note the LMS B2 will technically at least have a better radar in the form of the Cenk, which is AESA..
As it is ordered in 2024, the LCS radar was ordered in 2011/2014 period…
They installed the mast yesterday (thursday). Ive seen lunas installing the mast while on my way back from Pangkor.
The Navy wanted the Herakles & Tacticios but BNS chose Smart-S & Setis. This is an example of how military procurement was done according to contractors not the end user. The politics is just bad & messy. Which is why need a professional governing body in defense procurements (not politicians/contractors). WTF to that, the contractors have the final say about what the navy should buy.
Oddly why they had to use a mobile crane when just nearby seen there is a dockyard crane.
Qamarul – ”The Navy wanted the Herakles”
Did it. Didn’t know that.
Qamarul – ”This is an example of how military procurement was done according to contractors not the end user.”
One many know of because of the publicity over the LCS but one of many.
Qamarul – “Which is why need a professional governing body in defense procurements (not politicians/contractors”
The flip side is that there’s no use having a “professional governing body” if it’s ignored and overruled. I have to go back to the fact that various changes are needed but those changes have to go hand in hand with deep rooted apolitical changes in his we view defence and how we go about doing everything; from the general institutionalised mindset; to the role local agents/vendors play; to the actual allocation of funds and our minimalist approach of getting a bit but almost never enough of anything spread over over too long a period. There are no which fixes because the rot is so deep;in defence and in various other things which have gone so wrong in this country; including the education system and race relations.
joe,
Must be due to the weight. AFAIK, the jetty crane is small, maybe 5T SWL or max 10T. From the picture, a crawler crane is being used as crawlers can lift significantly heavier loads than the installed level luffing crane at the jetty.
Hope there are pictures of the internal of the mast (and ship) so that a better assessment of readiness to commission the ship can be made.
@Qamarul
“The Navy wanted the Herakles & Tacticios”
According to the 1st PAC LCS report, page 32, table 14, it stated that RMN did chose the Smart-S Mk2 radar. Not sure where you get your info from.
@Tom Tom
“Interesting to note the LMS B2 will technically at least have a better radar”
yes indeed as we had pointed out in few previous posts plus the CENK on paper has longer detection range. I think that when RMN want to procure LCS B2, they might request for an AESA radar instead of the PESA Smart-S 2
Luqman,
There will be a time when all radars are AESA rather than PESA but as it stands do AESA radars really provide such a leap in capabilities over PESA ones? Will they make the pivotal difference between success and failure? With aircraft; AESA radars enable to modes to be concurrently switched on; i.e. air to air and TRF [something a PESA can’t do] but as was discussed previously here the RMAF did not find that investing in AESAs for the Hornets would justify the cost given what they offer in terms of capabilities. On a podcast [can provide the link if you’d like] a former USAF Wild Weasel pilot also discusses this.
@Azlan
Sorry for the delay.
“do AESA radars really provide such a leap in capabilities over PESA ones?”
AESA by design can emit multiple frequencies at the same time (so “modes to be concurrently switched on”) and have less circuitry in each TRM module, hence in short
– more stealthy
– more resistance to jamming
– more resolution
on a ship, maybe #2 and #3 is more important
“investing in AESAs for the Hornets would justify the cost”
We can speculate a bit, even if RMAF can justify the cost, the government may not. Ideally (just my guess), RMAF would want additional Kuwaiti Hornets + AESA radars (either only for RMAF Hornets or including Kuwaiti Hornets), but in reality they can only choose either one. And so they went for getting Kuwaiti Hornets. Seems getting more airframes is the more critical issue. In short “cash strapped” as usual.
Luqman – ”Seems getting more airframes is the more critical issue.”
It is indeed but the RMAF is cognisant of the fact that it may end up with something it can’t fully afford to sustain and equip. As it is we can barely afford to sustain what we have and adding 12 or even 8 new airframes to an air arm with small fighter fleet and limited resources is a challenge. I would like to see us get the Kuwaiti planes but they must not be replaced in a few years with no replacement and we need to able able to sustain and equip them. Contrary to party what pris individuals who have a bone to pick and nothing else much to say will claim; I’ve raised these points as far back as years ago because people seem to think that actually getting the planes is all we should be worried about. I cold be wrong but if we get the Hornets – I’ve been told the Kuwaitis have agreed in principle – I’d be surprised if the government does not do it on the cheap; doing and spending the bare minimum.
Luqman – ”– more stealthy
– more resistance to jamming
– more resolution”
Yes no doubt it has its advantages; is something we should get and it will eventually replace PESA radars but as I asked : [as of 2024] do AESA radars really provide such a leap in capabilities over PESA ones; will they make the pivotal difference between success and failure?
To give a comparison; sorry a bit of an apples to oranges thing but just as a comparison: We all know and have long known the benefits of AIP; the sub doesn’t need to snorkel and is quieter but it’s noteworthy that some navies were in no rush to get AIP modules for their SSKs. Is it a fact that in general – irrespective of operating conditions and other things – that a SSK without AIP will always be severely disadvantaged against a SSK with AIP?
@Azlan
Sorry for the late reply, yes please do help share the podcast name and the episode name. Would love to listen to it.
“will they make the pivotal difference between success and failure?”
It remains to be seen as no such conflicts involved one side using PESA, the other AESA (well hopefully that will never come)