SHAH ALAM: It appears that RMN will be taking part in the 2024 RIMPAC exercise in Hawaii, later this July. Two years ago, corvette KD Lekir – pennant 26 – took in the exercise and made history by firing an Exocet surface-to-surface missile, the first time such firing had taken place overseas.
This time around it will be KD Lekiu – pennant number 30 – will be taking part in RIMPAC. Lunas shipyard in a social media post on February 6 stated that the ship came into the yard for an emergency defect repair as preparation to take part in the exercise. From the picture posted by Lunas, Lekiu has not been drydocked yet.
The post:
Feb 6, 2024 – We are thrilled to share that KD LEKIU has arrived at our yard today, marking the beginning of her Emergency Defect Repair (EDR).
Our dedicated Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) team is gearing up to ensure KD LEKIU is in its best condition for her participation in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, hosted by the US Navy
Lekiu had taken part in RIMPAC previously back in 2018. Let’s hope that Lekiu’s EDR is completed in time and she will be back in the water and will be sailing to Hawaii soon. As she had conducted Exocet firings last year, it is likely she will emulate Lekir in conducting the missile firing at RIMPAC.
Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said with KD Kasturi – pennant number 25 – which remained at the shipyard. She had entered the shipyard in late 2021 for a refit but it appears that it had not been completed as Lunas has not announced the completion of the programme.
Meanwhile, Lekir itself is currently sailing to Bangladesh and India to take part in bilateral exercises in both countries. There is no live firings in both exercises. As for KD Jebat, she had conducted a passing exercise with a Japanese destroyer as recent as February 13.
– Malaysian Defence
View Comments (11)
Ironically the one with unupgraded CMS and FCR is the one that can fire Exocets.
Anyway what is also going on with KD Laksamana Muhammad Amin? Shouldn't it be operational already? It has been on the water fitting out from at least Febuary last year. KM Langkawi is also at GOMS since last year.
Langkawi is now at Lunas.
Oh okay.
So both KM Langkawi (now in LUNAS) and KM Banggi (in Shin Yang Miri) is still in refit...
... - ''Ironically the one with unupgraded CMS and FCR is the one that can fire Exocets.''
I don't see the ''irony''... If you're referring to Lekir she [like her sister] received a TACTICOS back in 2007 and contrary to previous assumptions made that the Lekius were unable to do various things; Lekiu fired an Exocet just last year [not saying that both ships are not facing various issues].
Any plans for replacing the seawolf ?
VL Mica but not on the Lekius
I was referring to Lekiu with its original Nautis F CMS when compared to Jebat with the new Vibrant 1 CMS. Jebat has not fired any missiles since fitted with the new CMS.
"Emergency Defect Repair" is basically defects that has been around but not repaired due to money reasons which became an 'emergency' to get it done now since this ship was selected to go RIMPAC and it wont do if it cannot function reliably just for this event.
When the LCS becomes operational from 2026, is the plan to start decommissioning the oldest combat ships or keep all operational indefinitely? 5 LCS is more than the 4 active combat ships (2 Lekiu + 2 Kasturi) and if the 3 LMS2 becomes operational within the same time frame, it is 8 new combat ships (ships with missile) versus 4 today.
RMN AFAIK has not announced its plans what it is going to do when the LCS and LMS Batch 2 are commissioned.
... - ''compared to Jebat with the new Vibrant 1 CMS.''
Is the fully operational or is it really certified to fire the MM-40 yet? Also, does the fact that Jebat hasn't fired an M-40 yet mean that it can't? I have no idea but perhaps we should look for these answers before jumping into conclusions and claiming ''irony''.