SHAH ALAM: RMN’s second training ship, Teguh Samudera, has been delivered to the RMN in a ceremony at the Grade One Marine Shipyard, Lumut on Wednesday, Apr. 12. Grade One Marine was given the contract to complete the two 75 meter training ships after its original contractor went belly up several years back.
Malaysian Defence has a series of posts regarding the two ships so dig the archives for those stories. Last November I posted:
The two RMN training ships, Gagah Samudera and Teguh Samudera, are expected to be commissioned into service early next year. The commissioning ceremony will be held for both ships at the same time when work on Teguh Samudera is completed by year end.
RMN Assistant Chief of Staff Human Resources Rear Admiral Azhari Abdul Rashid says the ceremony is expected to be held in January once work on Teguh is completed. He says the two ships would be commissioned as the legal problems that had prevented them from doing so had been resolved. He did not explained how the legal problems were resolved.
However since then I was told that the commissioning had been delayed to April. 27, the date of the RMN anniversary. I have not further information regarding this but hopefully its forthcoming soon.
Teguh was launched on Feb. 27, 2013, some after two months after Gagah was launched (Dec 14, 2012) Both were supposed to be commissioned within six months after their launch at the NGV Tech Sdn Bhd yard in Sinjangkang, Selangor. The ship yard was foreclosed by Maybank soon after Teguh was launched as its owners failed to service their loans. Maybank only gave up the rights to both ships last year. I have yet to find out why Maybank suddenly drop its hold on the ships, its unlikely I will get any official from Maybank anytime soon. If however you do know why and got evidence to back it up, drop me a line, please.
Anyhow, the Royal Navy together with Leonardo has two AW159 Wildcat helicopters to Malaysia for DSA 2018, starting next week. I am not sure whether one of them will be displayed at the MITEC, the venue of DSA 2018, as the site do not have a large space for a helicopter to land unlike the previous venue, PWTC. I could be wrong of course.
Leonardo and the UK Government are obviously trying to push the Wildcats for the RMN’s long outstanding but yet-to-be funded requirements for anti-submarine helicopters. The Wildcats joined French Navy helicopter assault ship, FS Dixmude, for its annual amphibious deployment, Exercise Jeanne d’Arc. Dixmude is expected to berth in Malaysia soon.
— Malaysian Defence
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Great news. BTW is gagah samudera already comissioned in TLDM?
As for the helicopters. Those wildcats are mostly similar to the malaysian super lynx (unlike UKs lynx for example), just with a fancy squarish tail boom and some latest avionics. Would prefer the bigger EC725/EC225 platform with ASW suite, but that is just me.
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No not yet
i wonder why tldm never refabricate the two training ship design for the LMS? or is it the purchase with china is pure political decision?
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If they want the LMS to be derived from the training ships the government would need to do it with DSME of South Korea as it is their design. That was the plan originally but it never took off when the original shipyard went belly up. Even DSME is in financial difficulties now though as it had been bailed out by the South Korean government
Past two days was at MITEC and things are looking busy on three level of the exhibition halls. Got a glimpse of the MD heli and the paint job is totally different from what we have or seen so far. Didn\’t get any photo of it though. As for heli landing, the south entrance do have a bigger open area, anyway not an expert on this.
… – ”Those wildcats are mostly similar to the malaysian super lynx (unlike UKs lynx for example), just with a fancy squarish tail boom and some latest avionics”
The avionics/systems are what makes the difference. Externally, despite the similarity with the Lynx/Super Lynx; there are various other improvements that go beyond the tail boom.
I’d prefer a bigger platform with better internal space, range and endurance but I’ll be very surprised if we get anything other than Wildcat. Both Wildcats flew over my neighborhood yesterday.
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They will be stationed at AgustaWestland hangar at Subang, no space to land helicopters at MITEC however.
@ azlan
What i meant is also internally.
The wildcat has the same main gearbox, systems and engines (LHTEC CTS-800) as the malaysian navy super lynx 100. Most other lynx helicopters use the old rolls royce gem engines.
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I know what you meant. The Wildcat has the same engine and other parts but there are various other changes as well; the landing gear is different, changes have been made to the airframe to make it more low observable and IR resistant, etc, etc. In short, despite commonality with the Super Lynx and based on the same airframe; it is a very different aircraft in many aspects. We were the first to receive Super Lynxs with the LHTEC although Oman ordered its Super Lynx’s first.