SHAH ALAM: KD Terengganu sailing the waves again. Back in June 2019, Malaysian Defence wrote that KD Terengganu -pennant number 174 – will undergo a refit at the Boustead Naval Shipyard in Lumut, Perak. BNS announced it got the RM96 million contract in an announcement to Bursa Malaysia.
Late last year, Terengganu, could be seen during the RMN Open Day, tied up next to the BNS facility together with KD Kasturi. Terengganu did not have to wait long there as BNS officially handed over the ship back to RMN on February 23. RMN on April 16 announced that Terengganu had obtained the five-star rating during her Operational Readiness Evolution (ORE) conducted from April 12 to 15, after a period of work up following the refit.
As Terengganu is 14 years old – she was commissioned on December 8, 2009, the refit conducted on her could be characterised as a mid-life one.
It is unclear whether RMN had installed new equipment on board. That said she may well be the first Kedah class ship to be installed with a new Radar-Electronic Support Measures (RESM) as reported by Malaysian Defence last January.
As one of the nicest looking ship in RMN courtesy of the recently completed refit, it is likely that Terengganu will take part in LIMA 2023 to be held in Langkawi this May. Hopefully, I will get better pictures of her at anchor in Langkawi.
Terengganu and her sister ship, KD Pahang are based at RMN ‘s first regional headquarters in Kuantan, Pahang. The rest of the PV17 squadron are based at the Kota Kinabalu naval headquarters in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Both ships are routinely tasked to Eastern Fleet command tasking though.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (36)
@ marhalim
"in the original post I mentioned the Gem Eletronic EO turret which is wrong"
Actually you are right marhalim. There is a Gem Elettronica EO turret on KD Terengganu
But the Gem Elettronica EO turret is not for the 76mm gun, instead it is installed for the rear 30 mm Breda-Mauser.
https://www.malaysiandefence.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/KDtD.jpg
In the picture you can see the EO turret beneath the NORSAT satcom dome, covered with a tarpaulin with a big blue Gem Elettronica logo on it.
Previously the Rheinmetall TMEO is installed at the same location.
So how many Kedah class ships that has gone through similar 15 year refit?
KD Terengganu is one. What about others?
So this would mean that it would be 15 more years before another major refit?
AFAIK Kedah, no idea whether RMN will keep to the schedule really
Actually, what is the most probable or likely weaponry upgrade that the Kedah class could get? In the sense of what the ship itself (physically, electrically, mechanically, etc.) could handle without breaking the bank? For example, we can exclude SAM and SSM due to equipment and installation costs.
VSHORADs such the Mistral Simbad launchers. Laser guided rockets fired from LIG Next 1 rocket launchers like South Korea, Saudis and UAE/
The problem with equipping any weapons would likely be opportunity cost as those missiles have 30 years shelf life while the ship is already 15 years old. Either find a Preloved missiles or commit to using the Kedah fir at least 50 years I guess to make it worthwhile.
kel - ''Actually, what is the most probable or likely weaponry upgrade that the Kedah class could get?''
Look at a pic and ask yourself how much free deck space there is and how much below deck free space there is? From the onset it was designed for a non deck penetrating system in the B position [RAM] and 4 ASMs amidships [Exocets]. Little to no free space for anything beyond that.
kel ''installation costs.''
It's not ''installation costs'' which is the concern but integration/certification and any redesign/regeneering work.
Sorry this is a bit of topic. I think Kel mentioned this and I checked: the budget for the LMS batch 2 is $524 million for 3 ships, so it’s $175 million per ship. That would mean the ADA class at $250 million per ship is over budget. So is the C92 at I believe $225 mil per ship. The only other Turkish possibility is the Dearsan C74. I wonder if the RMN will go for a variant of the C74…
"B position [RAM] and 4 ASMs amidships [Exocets]"
If we're going Korean all out, the ASM could mount 4x LIG CSTAR or Sea Dragon.
@Zaft
"while the ship is already 15 years old. commit to using the Kedah fir at least 50 years"
Much the same with FAC & PC fleet, TLDM could rehull & refresh the Kedahs if they saw there were benefits from the OP program, extending further the ships life past its due date.
Fitted with RAMsys and SSM?
Nope