SHAH ALAM: Joy to the world! As the Bangladesh Navy had named its first China-made Large Patrol Craft as BNS Durjoy, I used part of the word as the title of this post as it sounds nice and an obvious hint what this post is all about.
Yes, the four Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) the RMN is getting is a variant of the Durjoy class. It should be longer at 68 metres or so, about 4 metres longer than the Durjoy class, two of which are in service with Bangladesh Navy since 2013. The two ships are BNS Durjoy and BNS Nirmul.
The Wikipedia page on the Durjoy class claimed that the ship was a scaled down version of the Type 056A corvette.
The LMS/Durjoy is the product of Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Co.,Ltd , an affiliate of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation.
When the contract for the LMS goes ahead on Nov.5, it will become the most significant arms deal between Malaysia and China. The Army operated the FN-6 Manpads which were ordered in 2004, a follow-up deal to buy KS-1 MR SAMs never materialised.
From Wikipedia.
These ships are of 64.2 metres (211 ft) long, 9 metres (30 ft) wide and have a 4 metres (13 ft) draught with a displacement of 648 tonnes. The ships have a Bulbous bow suggests these ships are designed to sustain heavy sea states. The ships have speed and range to support long missions. The LPCs are powered by triple Pielstick diesels driving three screws for a top speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph). The range of the ships is 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) at and endurance is 15 days. They have a compliment of 60 crews. According to CSIC officials speaking to Defense Media Network at LIMA 2013, these are cost-effective warships, able to perform strike missions at ranges of about 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) as well as undertaking limited anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations.
Two Durjoy-class ships are under constitution at KSY for dedicated ASW operations which will have torpedo launchers besides other armaments.
Confirming the deal, RMN chief Adm. Kamarulzaman Badaruddin said that the ships will be fitted with MTU diesel engines. He also confirmed that the LMS will only be fitted with guns only. It will be wired for missiles but under the Fitted For But Not With, just like the Kedah class, anti-ship missiles will not be fitted (more likely not procured – ED).
With no missile launchers fitted at the aft deck, opens the possibility that the space could be fitted with all sort mission equipment as envisaged for the LMS.
Kamarulzaman, when met at the launch of the National Special Operations Force on Oct .28, also confirmed that two of the ships will be built in China (at the Wuchang Shipyard, Wuhan) while the other pair will be built by Boustead Naval Shipyard. Its likely as the Lumut shipyard will be very busy with the LCS, BNS may well build them at its other shipyard at Pulau Jerejak in Penang.
The TOT is the same deal that Bangladesh bought into as they got two of their boats directly from China while the other two are being built in Bangladesh. The Durjoy class are armed with a 76mm gun forward and two 20mm Oerlikon guns aft and four C-704 anti-ship missiles aft.
As for the equipment, Kamarulzaman said it will be a mixture of China and Western equipment. He did not specify them but said it will be cheaper if we opted for China made equipment only. As for the western equipment, he says it will be the same ones already in service with RMN.
Cost was the main reason that Malaysia are buying from China, says Kamarulzaman. With RMN getting some RM1 billion this year – most of the funds are locked into the LCS program – this is elementary though with any defence deal, the politicians will have the final say.
He also hinted of another proposal from China as a stop-gap measure ahead of the arrival of the four patrol boats.
He declined to reveal more saying that negotiations were still on-going but if it was successful the service could opt to retire all its aged patrol vessels at the same time. Whether or not this will affect the planned 18 LMS for RMN is beyond me at the moment.
For a different take on the LMS, read …excellent piece here. And no, I am not going to Beijing for the signing ceremony. In fact, by the time you read this post, I will be in Jakarta earning my keep!
Posted below are the general characteristics of the Durjoy class. It will be more or less the same as the LMS. It could be longer by four metres as mentioned previously.
From Wikipedia
Durjoy class general characteristics
Type: Large patrol craft
Displacement: 648 tons
Length: 64.2 m (211 ft) (overall)
Beam: 9 m (30 ft)
Draught: 4 m (13 ft)
Propulsion: 2 shafts, 2 diesels
Speed: 28 knots (52 km/h)
Range: 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi)
Endurance: 15 days
Complement: 60 personnel
Sensors and
processing systems:Type 360 Radar (SR60) Surface Search, E/F band
MR-123-02/76 Fire Control Radar for 76.2mm gun
Type 352 Radar (Square Tie) surface search and SSM fire control, I-band
Type 347G Radar (Rice Bowl) for 20mm cannon, I-band
ESS-3 bow mounted sonarArmament:
1 × H/PJ-26 76.2 mm naval gun, forward;
2 × 2 C-704 AShM;
2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon;
2 × 6-tube EDS-25A 250mm ASW rocket launcher
Decoys
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (45)
Ha, ha. Didn't I say it was going to be a smaller variant of the type 56?
Emm... where do i start?
The Durjoy class on paper spacification is lower than even our old Handalan class (Spica-M) FAC(G), not to mention the Laksamana's. It is basically designed as a patrol boat (low 28knots top speed), with armaments (guns and missiles)similar to traditional FAC's.
I was really hoping that the LMS would be a benchmark in modern litttoral vessels, designed to deal more with the non-state actors in fast small boats rather than the normal patrol boat shooting missiles at bigger naval ships.
Lets see the actual LMS specification, graphics and models. Hopefully it is significantly different than the Durjoy class LPC of Bangladesh Navy.
hoping for more but beggar can't be choosy.....
With budget MYR200Million/ship plus unfavorable USD/MYR rate, LMS IMHO from the outside maybe not that far off from Durjoy.
Here we go again. National interest game at its best. What if the RMN suddenly finds (god forbid) that the joy class is not suitable with their 15 to 5 plan? Will they introduce a new design and rename their program to the 16 to 5 plan? Why is it that the gagah samudera class no listed in this grand plan? It is well below the 50 mil usd ceiling price of the LMS.
Since first Durjoy class was design in 2009/2010,
our RMN enhancement spec in 2016, with Engine change to MTU engine, hopefully the propulsion will redesign and upgrade too.
best ideally change to 2 MTU Engine with 2 shaft and CPP. so operation & maintenance will be more easy.
Looking at the LMS68 computer graphics, it is basically a patrol ship with H/PJ-26 76mm gun only, Electronics, looks like old pre-aesa Saab Sea Giraffe radar (is that still being built, or a chinese copy?), and optronic gun directors. Very basic, no groundbreaking situational awareness systems installed (like the Thales Gatekeeper). A conventional bridge and mast. No RHIB for boarding operations. No stern ramp for rapid deployment of RHIB. A very tight empty space behind the superstructure to put 20TEU containers. No cranes for self-loading of containers or other stuff. Doubtful usefulness in any HADR scenarios.
Basically just a smaller version of the guns-only Kedah class OPV. To build 18 ships all to one common standard with limited budgets, this is what you get.
I am really hopeful the ship will be substantially redesigned (just like the current version of the gowind SGPV is way different from the first concepts of the ship), rather than being just an elongated version of the Durjoy patrol ship.
Can it be fitted with bofor guns instead? or Chinese variant? It will be logistic headache if new Chinese variant guns installed instead.
Reply
I believe it could be fitted with Western guns but it's unlikely
Yes... Just like I predicted in my previous post, marhalim
After looking at what CSOC had on offer there was only 2 candidates Durjoy and Azmat. But since Patrol is the first priority for the ships then it has to be Durjoy ... It has enough space astern for the modular containers.
It bears a strong resemblance to the Korean PKG-A in dimensions, appearance and role.
For RM200 million we could have afforded the missile armed variant of the PKG-A, which is faster at 40 knots and requires a crew of 40. Durjoy is 28 knots and requires a crew of 60. Not to mention the benefits of having western equipment.
So if we are paying RM200 million for a Durjoy without missiles, I would say there are no cost savings.
Original post "Cost was the main reason that Malaysia are buying from China, says Kamarulzaman."
Considering this buy could not have been negotiated overnight, I believe this was negotiated when China bought 1MDB's assets.