PETALING JAYA: In conjunction with RMN’s 78th anniversary, its chief Tan Sri Aziz Jaafar hold a press conference to announce various events organised for the celebrations. There will be open days at all RMN bases, on April 27 and 28, 2012.
During the press conference, the CN also gave some updates on RMN’s assets and development plans.
1) KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Razak has been declared operational. Both are undergoing operations.
2) The contract for the Submarine Escape and Rescue service (SMERV) had been awarded to Target Resources Sdn Bhd. The LOA was awarded recently. The contract had been in abeyance for the last four years as the Finance Ministry wants the Defence Ministry to renegotiate the price of the contract – RM8.2 million monthly for 20 years or RM98.4 million annually. Apparently the LOA was given at the original contract price. The CN said the mothership is being built in Singapore and is expected to be ready soon. In the meantime, RMN had worked out deal wtth regional navies in case of emergencies.
3) The LCS design will be finalised by July at the latest. The hull remained the Gowind and SETIS is the CMS. Only the other systems have yet to be confirmed. “It will be equipped with a gun capable of anti-aircraft capability, modern surface-to-surface missiles, medium-range SAM, a modern radar and a towed array sonar. The deck will be designed to accept the Cougar for take-offs and landings only,” the CN said. He declined to be more specific as in naming brands but look at my previous stories on the LCS on the type of weapons and systems to be chosen for the ships.
TS Aziz said the requirement of ASW helos remained and had been registered with the Defence Ministry. (He had previously said the Navy has the requirements for six ASW helicopters, so I am guessing they still want six).
4) The Navy has receive offers from the US Navy to purchase retired or soon to be retired, LPDs and frigates. He said the offer has been registered with the Defence Ministry. TS Aziz did not specify numbers, but I hazard to guess, it will be more likely one LPD and two frigates, if they wanted to finalise the offer. The LPDs available from the US are the Austin-class LPDs (three stwhile the frigates are the Oliver Hazard Perry class. Asked about the other ships available from navies from Europe, he said they have yet to receive any offer from this countries.
5) The navy has put forward plans to equip the Kedah-class ships with their “fitted for but not equipped” weapon systems. No details on the weapons under considerations but the Kedah class were originally designed for the RAM and the Exocets. I am assuming the Exocets are a safe bet if the Block 3s are chosen for the LCS while the RAM could be ditched if funding becomes an issue. Cheaper alternatives include the SADRAL or Tetral launchers from MBDA. RMN is hoping to secure the funding for the second part of RMK10 or the next plan (which is more likely).
6) KD Pari and KD Mutiara will be repaired. KD Mutiara repairs will be borne by Malaysian Marine and Heavy Engineering Sdn Bhd (MMHE). The ship caught fire while undergoing maintenance work at the yard in early January this year. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the tender to repair KD Pari has been made public two months ago.
7) The two training ship contracted to NGV Tech Sdn Bhd with the cooperation of DSME are under progress. The ships, to be armed with guns only is expected to be delivered by next year.
— Malaysian Defence
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An informative post…yet TLDM quite secretive on their equipment modernization. I agree TLDM to get those hulls from USN,it is in line with Obama’s “Look Asia Pacific” Policy.
Submarine Escape and Rescue service (SMERV)…wow nearly RM 10M a month? Target Resources Sdn Bhd using foreign/expat manpower or locals?
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Nothing official, I called the company, the officer in charge did not want to answer or returned my call. Since even the Singaporean are using foreigners, I guess ours will do so especially when it comes to ROV and such…
What mean by take off and landing only ? no hangar or what . But i really want to know details about the hazard and austin offered to us . Awesome war machine if it belong to us . Any updates.
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Meaning that it will not be based on the ships. The Cougars are not fully marinised helicopters meant to be based on ships like the Sea King and Super Lynx as they have folding rotors blade and all. As for the LPDs and frigates, it will take at least six months before any thing will happened.
Those ex-USN ships are well used and will be a maintenance nightmare.
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I know but the initial procurement cost will be lower, a much lower barrier when it comes to persuading the bean counters….
Yeah, finally made a good decision to arm the first generation NGPV with the weapons it was designed to be fitted with is a great decision.Its the easiest and fastest way to increase our defence and lethality of the ships.It can now confront any aggressive stance from any powers of the region. The purchase of the ex-USN ships can also be considered as we do need a big logistic ship and a fast way to increase our guns around the spratlys would be much welcpomed. The small patrol boats would win no respect from aggressors.
A quick search on Google and I found out that most of the OHP are only left with Phalanx and Oto Melara. The SAM and ASM has been taken out. Why do we need to burden ourselves with an old platform, another type of CMS, metal fatigue and gas turbine engine when we can used the budget to retrofit the OHP for Kedah Class, a much better platform than the OHP with enhance protection system by Rheinmetall. See the link here: http://www.rheinmetall-detec.de/index.php?fid=5736&lang=3
if not mistake korea do offer loan an landing ship.. no news any more?
do TLDM still getting more meko design?
if v can get Oliver Hazard Perry class it will boost up TLDM capability…
Austin class just nice for TLDM to replace the lost 1 but not the best…
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Oh yeah I forgot about the Korean LST no news about that one
haha maybe, this is malay style lah dah nak berak baru nak cari tandas,now storm is brewing in the south china sea,china against the phillipines baru org melayu tergesa gesa,wants to arm the kedah class,buy more sdubs,and but more floating vessels,if only it was done 10 years back…….
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It was always about the money not anything else. The fitted for but not equipped concept was to me was a tactic to reduce the unit initial price but it was wasted since they decide to hand over the contract to Amin Shah
Finally RMN has proven that its FFBNW concept is working as planned. Hope they can fit the weapons in 24 hours for each ship, since the design is supposed to be a plug n play one, or isn’t it?
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It won’t be that easy as they had never plug in the yet to be buy systems. First of all they need to install it first and make sure its seen/registered in the CMS. Then they must integrate everything with the sensors; ie radar and fire control radar. A test firing must be done to validate everything and it must be successful otherwise trouble shooting must be conducted. I am guessing that it will take at least six months once the weapon systems are in-country. It will be faster if they used the Exocets for the ASM role as it is in stock as does the launchers. But for the RAM or any other replacement it will take at least two years for the systems to be in-country from the day procurement contract is signed and the day the money is paid (which can take as long as two years or more). One way to shorten integration is to borrow – a RAM launcher and its missiles if its the one chosen – from an existing user so we can trouble shoot problems early.
Vote for RAM and exocet onboard kedah , rmn need more teeth right now as the regional sea force continues to add their inventory with state of the art battleship . some fools may say if malaysia buy ships it may start an arm race , ignore it , we cant afford to race actualy , just want to achieve minimum defensive power which we never had even today with the number of our ship .
I have a question if any TUDM exercise with SAF in Johor now? I can see many jet pass in Skudai and Gelang Patah area start from yesterday.Did Malaysia give a pass to SAF for use our air space?
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No idea
Way to go Navy but please, not the Nashville. It could end up like KD Inderapura.
Furthermore USN officials stated the ship was too costly to maintain and was unable to match the efficiency of newer vessels.
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Our boats are not much faster than the Nashville!
Target Resources is owned by Dato Sofiadin, a successful buisnesman from Pahang.Target Resources in the past had been awarded with many mega construction projects such as the Melawati Palace at Putrajaya,MLRS regiment complex, MAF Ammunition Depot Complex, Sukhoi Air Force etc….very successful contractor with immense technical capability.
I suppose with the Rescue Submarine project Target Resources has to employ foreign expertise as the whole thing is a new subject matter to them.
Hi guys, I’m new here. Why don’t we buy 6 Oliver’s? Can they be armed with a 127mm gun in the A position? And maybe 2 quad harpoon launchers just be behind the A position? I mean these are big ships that can be better armed can’t they?
I’m not too sure about the Austin class though as they are boiler steamed and not diesel powered.
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Not a 127mm, a much better way is to follow the Aussies by putting a MK41 VLS for ESSM. But I believed they won’t buy the Olivers but the LPD is a strong possibility
Looking at the projects carried out by Target Resources above, I believe they all involved underground and hardened shelters or bunkers. At least they have expertise in under surface works already.
I’ditch the OHP and LPD. It’s old (70s construction technology). It is going to be a maintenance nightmare for the Navy. Better of taking a much newer ship in USN inventory. At least the 80s tech can still serve well. I thought the Navy don’t like boilers tech engine. Preference in the diesel engine.
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There is nothing else in the US that are offered to us. The Aegis cruisers are well above our asking price! Even the Aussies cannot afford them
Since China/PLA has requested a very larger area including our sea territorial , we should buy more submarine’s and destroyer’s from the Russia not USA, because China use large state of art Russia made Ship’s , we could study them even more since we
has 0 of the Formal Soviet Union Country made Ship’s , I know they are not top ship’s manufacturer but at least they trying to beat the Western country and from there (like our Combination Air Fleet) we can know CHina also
Thanks Loreng for the heads up on Target Resources…their portfolio is in construction, now they got into sub/maritime business which is quite a way too far from land.
Hi guys first posting here …according to Defense Studies which quoted Janes RMN is interested in 2 Olivers and a Whidbey Island class LSD.
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The Whidbey Island class is to remain in service until 2038 while 3 of the Austin class will be retired soon while the rest had been retired already
Just my guess. If we don’t buy the Olivers when they are available,other nation’s navies are very eager to grab them. After all there is still plenty of life in those hulls for upgrades.
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Not really, Taiwan is asking for 4, perhaps they will give one or two to Philippines. The OHPs while widely in service with other navies are not highly regarded
Just checked at IHS Janes an article dated 10/24/2011 states that 3 Whidbey Island class ships scheduled for decommissioning in 2013-2014 due to budget cuts together with nine Ticonderoga-class cruisers while NavyTimes states that Whidbey Island and Tortuga LSD will be decommissioned in 2013 in an article dated Feb 13, 2012.
The LSD that is going to be decommisioned are the USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41), USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) and USS Tortuga (LSD 46).
Those are huge ships,around 16000tonnes displacement, nearly 200m long and can carry onboard 4 LCAC’s (and those LCAC’s are huge!). They are armed with 2 RAM and 2 Phalanx’es. My worry is that those LSD’s are manned by more tahn 400 sailors…
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/US_Navy_050117-F-4884R-015_he_amphibious_dock_landing_ship_USS_Fort_McHenry_%28LSD_43%29_makes_a_wide_turn_prior_to_conducting_helicopter_operations_off_the_coast_of_the_island_of_Sumatra%2C_Indonesia.jpg
As for the OHP’s there are 6 ships to be decommisioned in the near future (2012-2014). USS Crommelin
USS Curts
USS Carr
USS Klakring
USS Reuben James – this is a famous ship, trained alot with TLDM, and appeared in many movies…
Pakistan and Taiwan are some of the countries that are eager to snap up the used OFP’s. It is told that Taiwan was offered these ships for only USD20Mil each.
Turkey has 8 of them and has upgraded them to be one of the most advanced OHP-class ships sailing.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/USS_Crommelin_FFG37.jpg
As for the other used ships, isn’t the italian navy are retiring some of theirs?
List of MM decommission (no san gorgio LSD?): http://www.difesa.it/Sala_Stampa/rassegna_stampa_online/Pagine/PdfNavigator.aspx?d=14-04-2012&pdfIndex=8
In 2013 they will be retiring 6 corvettes, maybe can get those for APMM?
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As mentioned in the post, TS Aziz said only the US had made an offer and the rest did not. I know the French wants to sell us one of their old LPD but I guess like the rest it was more like a suggestion instead of a formal offer like the US. This was most probably part of the Obama’s shift towards Pacific.
I am not too concern about the offer but such interest means that the US will be working very hard to ensure the Navy (and the Government) choose the ESSM for the LCS instead of the Mica.
sori,to masuk daun,why buy USA when it have been proven be it the skyhawk,the county class LPD is a waste of public money,instead Brunei offered to sell their Ragam class but sombong Malay reject it.UK destroyer was on offer,malay could use the leverage of being their colony to buy the vessels.look at the philippines they buy what ever on offer to them same goes the thailand n now their navy n airforce are much on par with the
Malays
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Is it Malaysia or Malays?
my thinking is the USA have got a plan for the malays,remember when communism was spreading in south east asia,The USA sell anything the malays want just to assist them in curbing comunism from spreading…n now history repeats itself USA willing to sell all their surplus ships just to ensure they dont confront China alone…org putih ni bijak n yg bodoh kta hahah…even if the malays wants to buy the patriot they willingly sell it to them…now is good time to squeeze the mat salleh to sell what was once sensitive weapons not meant for the malays
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Malays again?
Talking about sales of defence equipment, the latest country to retire early their defence equipment is Austria. Their F-16’s, Leopard M2-4’s and many other more older assets are being sold or scraped. the Leopards are a good buys while the older equipment would be a good sale for scrap metal. However, its instructional to know that they would be maintaining their medium tank-the Ulmah.
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Dutch or Belgium or Austria? The Ulmah or the Kuraseer? Anyways I don’t think its a good idea to have another type of MBT in service. But seeing they will have two turrets for the AV8, one cannot be sure of anything!
No UAV on the ships?
any update if theres any?
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None at the moment, perhaps CTRM will get them to test the ScanEagles.
We are scrambling for heavily-used, non-conforming ships and Thailand has a shiny new LPD. Just delivered on 20 April.
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Singapores-ST-to-Build-LPDLST-Landing-Craft-for-Regional-Navy-05152/
Marhalim,
Aviation Week is carrying two new interesting stories (here in brief…):
“Tata Motors Inks Truck Deal With Malaysian Defense Firm”
“Tata Motors and DRB-Hicom Defense Technologies Sdn Bhd (Deftech), a wholly owned subsidiary of DRB-Hicom Berhad, Malaysia, have signed a cooperation agreement to enable both Deftech and Tata Motors to develop, promote and market Tata’s high-mobility 4×4 trucks with payloads ranging from 2.5-5 metric tons for the armed forces of Malaysia ,” Tata says.
In the initial stage, Deftech will be working on two of Tata’s proven models: LPTA 715 and 1623.
“Indonesia Considering AH-64 Apache And Eurocopter Tiger”
The U.S. faces a dilemma over the possible sale of attack helicopters to Indonesia.
Industry executives say Indonesia has issued a letter of request to buy Boeing AH-64 Apaches.
When interviewed earlier this month, Sjafrie made no mention of the requirement for Apaches. Instead, he said Indonesia planned to order the Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter.
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Scott and English, a subsidiary of DRB Hicom is already the distributor of TATA trucks. I spoke to Deftech officials during DSA, they did not want to say officially whether Tata trucks will be marketed to replace the Amdac trucks used as gun towers etc but they are the perfect fit.
RFPs are requests not firm buys. It will better for them to buy Tiger due to the ties between Dirgantara and EADS. It will be interesting to see what’s happening here as Eurocopter is pushing hard for the Tiger for the Army
Forgot to add that Tata’s truck offerings link:
http://www.defencesolutions-tatamotors.com/ProductList.aspx?VehicleCategoryId=2
Why our “Malays” didn’t yet have attack helicopter’s like our neighborhood have, If RMAF considering to purchase Assault Helicopter, i suggest that they pick AH-1Z Viper instead of Picking Tiger Euro or Any other Assault Helo.
More submarines for the Malays Navy and most important AWACS to cover our water
According to JDW the request of interest to purchase 2 OHP and the Whidbey Island (LSD 41), was made by the RMN to the USN and not vice versa..if its of any importance.The LSD would probably be for the proposed marines.
More interesting is the fact that DSME informed the Korean Stock Market regulators that the had secured a US$1.2 billion dollar contract from an unnamed SEA country for 5 ships in DEC 2010. And a few days later NGVTech issues the statement about the RMN training ship contract. So any takes on the other 3 ships…
The last TATA trucks were not particularly well loved.
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I know but they balked about the price of the Actros, MAN, Scania, Volvo and Renault so unless we prepared to buy Dongfengs…though Deftech did sell them buses from China.
Sharul Azlan,
I believe you’re referring to Malaysia rather than ‘malays’. There has been a longstanding requirement for attack helicopters. We came close to ordering the Rooivalk in 1997 and got congressional approval to buy the Apache – the issue is MONEY, the need to address other priorities and the previous infighting between the army and RMAF over who should operate it. The AH-1Z was offered by Bell and a cockpit mock up was at Heli Asia many years ago.
Bigfoot,
What is the connection between KD Inderapura and any future ships we get from the USN? It was a shortcoming in fire damage control procedures and ineptness that led to the loss of KD Inderapura, not any technical shortcomings or due to the fact that she was previously owned by another navy.
Interesting reading on the M4…
Remington was chosen for the latest manufacturing contract for the US Army. This is the first non-Colt M4 contract.
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-usas-m4-carbine-controversy-03289/
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Colt still hold the TDP rights on the M4 and the ones they are manufacturing as basically the same as our M4A1s with full auto and semi. If they are converting to a completely new carbine only then it would have been embarrassing to us…
Marhalim,
Two more interesting articles from Aviation Week…
“Thailand and China Fostering Defense Ties” and “Saab to Upgrade Thai Carriers for Aircraft Compatibility”. Very interesting lead in the first article – “China is trying to woo the defense establishment of Thailand , one of the very few Southeast Asian nations with which it has no conflicting claims in regard to the South China Sea.”
I don’t mean to get “off topic” with these posts, and I’m definitely not getting reimbursed for pitching Aviation Week! Some of these stories are just to good not to share.
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FYI, I nearly joined Aviation Week two years ago but decided against it
KD Inderpura was handed over ‘hot’. Her crew disembarked and the RMN took her over. She was the last available in that condition. All the other County LSTs had been mothballed and would have cost a lot to return to service. That is why they did not take any more, although they were offered. We could have had our own little Kanimbla black hole.
The M4 TDP has now reverted to US Gov but Colt was given the Diemaco C7/C8 TDP as a sweetener to buy Diemaco. It is actually a little better for our needs as it is metric. Colt TDP is imperial. 🙂
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The latest posting by Daniel Watters stated otherwise the M4 TDP is actually Colt’s unlike those of the M16.
Fareed,
Thailand has had a close relationship with China since the 1980’s. Remember the Chao Praya and Narusan frigates and 130mm howitzers bought at ‘friendly prices’? And the Type 59 MBTs and Type 85 APCs that later had cracks in their hulls due to poor quality steel:}? Like the rest of us in the 1980’s, Thailand had sleepless nights due to fears that the Vietnamese in Cambodia would turn west. Ken Conboy, the author of ‘Kopassus’ and ‘Intel’ is currently writting a book about the Indonesian realtionship with Cambodia over the years. Some info will be included in his book on the assistance provided by various ASEAN countries, us included, to various Cambodian factions – who were fighting the Cambodian communists and the Vietnamese – some of whom received training in Malaysia.
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My guess is that China wants to rekindle its relationship with Thailand
Marhalim,
Agreed, China is hoping to generate some sales as Thailand hasn’t bought anything for the past few years, and trying to get some political leverage with Thailand – which is Uncle Sams non-NATO ally. Wonder if any fixed wing aircraft will ever take off from the Chakri Naurubet? The RTN Matadors have been grounded for years, they shelved a plan to get the RNs Sea Harriers and they have said they can’t afford the F-35. I did a search and found that the Austins are pretty old. The Whidbey would be nicer, assuming its made available to us, but would cost a bomb to run!
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The Austins are in their 40th year in service while the Whidbey Islands coming up to 30! Yes we may indeed want the younger class ships
Azlan
Yes, It’s Malaysia =)
AH-1Z viper will increase Malaysia sea security and this will give benefit to the region and also we can patrol our South China sea with high mobility and equipment and with hydra & Hellfire missile we can destroy any ship nearby without any problems, btw their airforce are far away from our territorial sea so we still can secure our sea and make a preparation for PLA Aircraft carrier that will bring SU-33 or maybe some Chinese copy made Flanker-33 , And more over we could add our submarines from 2 to 4 or maybe 5 like our southern ‘friend’ and more long range super-cruise missile’s (Maybe from Pakistan copy of captured tomahawk) and put it on our Su-30mkm and to increase long range fight we could Buy F-15 silent eagle or the SU35BM that has capability of long range strike’s and can reach the target in no time .
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There is no need for war mongering here
While Thailand had sleepless nights due to fears about the Vietnamese in Cambodia, now it’s our turn to have nightmares. What with China rearing its ugly head and India and North Korea taking potshots with their rockets in our general direction. As such, I think that nothing less than an Aegis ship will do. Not to go to war with, but as a greater deterrence than an LCS armed with puny Mica SAMS would ever be able to achieve. Of course, it may end up in port most of the time due to its age and the fact that we can’t afford to keep it running 24/7 but the Chinese, North Koreans and Indians don’t need to know that. Thailand has no problems keeping Chakri Narubet in port most of the time. Point noted that big ships won’t be able to berth at navy bases. But if Westport is good enough for the USS Abraham Lincoln, I can’t see why the navy can’t emulate the air force and share infrastructure with civilians. The navy should return to the objective of its formation. Why can’t it just leave all the patrolling in the kiddie pool stuff to the MMEA and the police
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We need to increase to defence budget up to RM30 billion a year as an Aegis destroyer such as the Aussie AWD costs around RM10 billion without the Standard missiles. Although I had advocated for a navy with at least three Aegis destroyers, 2 submarines and 10 multipurpose ASW/MCM ships before, I readily admit we don’t have the funds to do so.
With our perceived lack of maintenance culture, i have doubt about buying 2nd hand vessels. Though new vessels takes 4-5 years to be fully built and inducted, in the long run it would be better. However, i agree pressing current operational requirements and limited budget, may leave RMN no choice but to opt for 2nd hand vessel.
I agree with Kamal but its the future (used and 70s technology) USN ships that corcerned me. Modern ships have better Fire Protection System. Need to consider metal fatigue and spare parts availability and all this will drive maintenance cost very high.
Perhaps the NAVY should forget about the OPH and instead arm the KEDAH. Then get new LPDs.
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They are proposing for both the OPH and arming the Kedah at the same time. Whether money is available is another issue. My guesstimate for the two OPH and one LPD is around RM250 million.
Anybody from MINDEF reading this post, please advice why is it last week, RSAF F16s are flying over pasir gudang. they are so low that i could see their drop tanks.