SHAH ALAM: The nav radars for the first LCS has been delivered to the Boustead Naval Dockyard in Lumut, recently. The radars are the Kelvin Hughes Sharpeye in the E/F-band (X &; S-Band), industry sources told Malaysian Defence.
The nav radars will be be installed on the DCNS-designed panoramic sensors and intelligence module (PSIM). The 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 ops rooms and the associated equipment compartments into a single module.
It is likely that LCS’s PSIM module is already undergoing assembly and once completed, it will be used to conduct system and integration tests at the BNS facility. During the construction of the Kedah-class, the ship’s CMS also underwent assembly and testing on land in Lumut before they were installed on the intended vessels.
Once the ship is launched, the PSIM module will be hoisted into its location amidships just behind the bridge.
For the first LCS, the mating of the PSIM module is likely to be conducted by the second half of 2017 as the ship is only expected to be launched by April.
With two Sharpeyes per ship, Kelvin Hughes will supply 12 radars for the LCS programme. And a dozen more will also be needed for second batch of the LCS as envisioned by the RMN’s 15 to 5 plan.
Apart from the LCS, the Sharpeyes were also selected for the two RMN training ships, Gagah Samudera and Teguh Samudera. Both ships have had these radars installed on them as they are prepared for commissioning. These nav radars were stored for some three years as the ships were left uncompleted after the shipyard went belly-up. The ships are fitted with a single Sharpeye radar each.
Industry sources also told Malaysian Defence that the same Sharpeye radars have been selected for the six New Generation Patrol Craft (NGPC) being built by Destini Bhd for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA). The first NGPC is expected to be launch by year end.
Kelvin Hughes on its product .
Launched in 2008, more than 25 navies now use SharpEye™ radars and displays, which deliver improvements in sub-clutter visibility by approximately 30dB, enabling targets with a low RCS (Radar Cross Section), typically 0.5m2, to be detected even in heavy rain and high sea states. Doppler processing enables clutter removal without picture degradation. This combined with a host of other unique and special features in the radar sensor and display provides an unprecedented level of situational awareness to naval and coastguard vessels from a navigation radar.
So if the nav radars for the first LCS had been delivered to BNS, what about the rest of the equipment? Apart from the nav radars, I have not been told of anything else but I am pretty sure that some other equipment would have been delivered to Lumut.
There are other items which I have been told would be shipped to Lumut, once BNS could confirmed the launch date of the first LCS. As the launch of the ship is tentative at the moment, some companies is on “holding mode”.
Some of the equipment are already manufactured and waiting to be shipped only while others are still being manufactured – the Just in Time – philosophy.
It will be shipped to Malaysia near to the date of the launch or shortly after it so the equipment could be install without spending much time in the warehouse.
As in any programme, the companies involved would also have to abide by the contract as when to deliver their equipment. Late deliveries could result in huge penalties.
The selection of the Sharpeyes is quite interesting, at least to me. I had been told that Kelvin Hughes will no longer be in the mix following the recent RMN tender exercise where its radars was not selected. But as usual, the more, the merrier!
Malaysian Defence had previously written that RMN had selected the Terma Scanter 6000 nav radars to be installed on the KD Jebat and KD Lekiu as well as KD Mahawangsa and KD Sri Inderasakti.
The status of the installation is not known at the moment, however.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (30)
Another positive progress for our first LCS, which is the biggest, most well-armed and high-end naval ship ever being built locally for TLDM.
All the best to Boustead Naval Shipyard.
Any news on the SAMs for LCS? I tried looking for any of your post about the SAMs but couldn't find any. Is the VL Mica or ESSM selected?
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VL Mica
Another batch lcs seem like a wet dream to me but never say never.maybe rmn have their own reason for this.too bad yhose lcs only equipped with vl mica .if it get the green light from the gov our navy would become one of the most powerful navy in SEA.
"if it get the green light from the gov our navy would become one of the most powerful navy in SEA."
Once the LCS are completed, we will be the second most "powerful" and technologically advanced battle force. But we still won't have enough to guard our borders day to day. So "powerful" is a relative term and should not be our only objective.
@am you taking my comment out of context.
AM,
We'll never have enough main combatants which is why a smaller, cheaper to run and operate platform is needed to perform a variety of roles that don't call for an LCS or Lekiu : the LMS.
ujang,
The ''most powerful'' navy would not be one that has many well armed ships but one that has ships that are integrated to other sea assets as well as to land and air assets to form a common operating picture and to operate as one. The first steps have already been taken but we have a long way to go before we can acquire the network centric abilities that make the key difference. At the moment our key assets are integrated with one another but are not integrated with non RMN assets. Another issue is the ability for the RMN to work with the RMAF. If even Tier 1 NATO countries still have issues with operating ''jointly'', imagine the issues we have.
Given that we are unlikely to be in a state on state conflict; a point defence system like MICA [we could have done worse] is sufficient for our needs at present. ASTER 15 would have been nice but this would significantly drive up the cost and a bigger hull would be needed.
K.H. Sharpeye is used by Jabatan Laut as VTS radar. It is a solid state radar.
I assume the Sylver VLS installed can accept Asters too? Meaning a possible mix combo of VL MICA and Aster 15 ?
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AFAIK the MICA VLS containers are not the Sylver VLS containers.
Aster 15 could theoretically be fitted on the Gowinds. The limiting factor is not the size of the ship, it is the performance of its main radar. the similarly sized formidable class frigates of singaporean navy are armed with aster 15/30 coupled with the herakles radar
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I have replied before that I was told by DCNS rep some years back that the ship need to be certain size of at least 3500 tonnes for it to be armed with Aster 15. I could be wrong of course. No worries the next time I meet the DCNS people I will try to get a definitive answer.