SHAH ALAM: The Procurement Division of the Home Ministry has issued a 21-day tender for the supply and delivery of ten Rigid Hull Fender Boat (RHFB) for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency or MMEA. The tender was published October 29 and closes on November 19.
The indicative cost for the ten RHFB is RM26 million which means that each will cost RM2.6 million each. This will be cheaper than the Rigid Hull Assault Boat of the Marine Police. That said the new boats for tender will be more expensive than the 30 units Perkasa-class RHFB contracted to Dalac Marine and Engineering Sdn Bhd, for RM46.5 million or RM1.55 million per boat. Like anything in life, it is cheaper to buy things in bulk.
Based on the specifications of the tender, the RHFB will be of the same size as the Perkasa-class RHFB though it should have a faster top speed of 50knots. It will have three mounting for machine-guns, one forward, and two aft. The new RHFB will replace the current Kilat class RHIBs, 53 of which remained in service. This means more of the new patrol boats will be ordered in the future.
The vast area of the MMZ
needs to be protected by MMEA by showing continuous presence of
MMEA vessels. Presently, these duties are carried out by MMEA using
several types of patrol boats including fifty-three (53) vessels of KILAT
Class, Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB). The RHIB had been in
operations for more than 17 years in MMEA. These boats need to be
replaced with new and modern boats, known as RHFB, which are
specially designed for coast guard enforcement duties. RHFB are
vessels with the ability to operate for not less than 8 hours and
undertake a wide range of tasks such as interception, interdiction,
surveillance and SAR. Some of these RHIB in Peninsular Malaysia has
been replaced with the new PERKASA Class which enter operation in
2020. However, the RHIB is still used for operation in Sabah and
Sarawak. Therefore, these RHFB’s will be stationed in MMEA bases
located throughout Sabah and Sarawak to replace the current aging
KILAT Class.
The boats shall be used mainly
for enforcement duties such as interception of smugglers, pursuit of
pirates and force boarding of vessels. The boat also will be used in
special operation such as interception of armed foreign vessel, fast
insertion and extraction operation especially in eastern Sabah waters.
For this purpose, the RHFB shall be protected with robust and rugged
fendering system around the boat.
The boat shall also be able to act as a life boat, diving boat, search
and rescue (SAR) boat, perform enforcement and patrol duties as well
as for special maritime operations.
Length : 12-13 meters
b. Beam : not more than 3.5 meters
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c. Draught : not more than 1.0 meter
d. Displacement : not more than 9.5 tonnes (fully loaded)
e. Maximum Speed : Not less than 50 knots (half loaded)
f. Cruising Speed : Approximately 40 knots (fully loaded)
g. Hull Material : Marine Grade Aluminium Alloy (5083H321) or
Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) or equivalent.
10 passengers (includes pilot and navigator)
l. Propulsion : Equipped with maximum three (3) units of latest petrol or
diesel Outboard Motor (OBM) to achieve the speed requirement. (The
bidder shall provide brochure for the proposed OBMs)
m. Range : Not less than 300 nautical miles (Cruising speed)
n. Endurance : 8 hours (Cruising speed)
o. Seat : At least eight (8) suspension shock system jockey seats and
two (2) suspension bucket shock system side by side stand up seats for
the pilot and navigator.
p. Power : 1 x Generator 5 Kva
q. Accommodations : 1 x Air Conditioning Unit
r. Cabin Type : Semi-cabin Type
s. Weapon Mounting : Three (3) General Purpose Machine Gun
(GPMG) hard point located at centre (forward), Port and Starboard (aft)
come with telescopic pintle and bullet proof plate. The plate and
telescopic pintle shall be easily removed for storage. These hard points
shall be protected and preserved when not in use.
For the full specifications please go to the Eperolehan website.
— Malaysian Defence
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What APMM should do is to just buy more Perkasa class RHFB
The Perkasa class RHFB has a top speed of 47 knots. So a tweak on the hull or even add a few extra horsepower on the outboard engines can achieve the 50 knots requirement.
And i hope that APMM sticks with the perkasa class RHFB and its unique hull design that is stable both at speed and at rest.
As for gun stabilising.
Nowadays there are already in the market gun mount stabilisers that function the same as camera stabilisers. Just buy and use.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GbGHh20aEAAiCAM.jpg
The stabilised gun mount was displayed at DSA 2024. Whether or not someone managed to sell them to the services is beyond me.
For more stable boats, there are modern active stabilising systems
at speed :
https://zipwake.com/
at rest :
https://www.seakeeper.com/home/
As for the hull design. Currently 4 malaysian services are using this specific hull design. This has been proven to be more stable both at speed and at rest, compared to older, pointy bow deep-v hull designs. For any new APMM boats, i believe that we should stick to this proven innovative hull design.
– APMM (12m RHFB)
– PDRM (13m RHAB)
– KASTAM (11m FIC)
– Taman Laut Malaysia (18m patrol boat)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GI6jF9ubwAALMVF.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GI6jEfPbsAA5-8P.jpg
I love how we come up with all these acronyms.
Is it due to price issues? Why can’t a FIC do what a RHFB is supposed to do?
Current kilat boat
https://www.mmea.gov.my/eng/images/stories/galeri/Mac_2019/LIMA2019/IMG_0462.JPG
It is a semi-cabin type of RHIB.
Specifications
Length : 7.62m (overall)
Beam : 2.71m (overall)
Collar Tube Diameter : 0.56m x 5 Chamber
Hull Material : FRP Composite/Aluminium
Tube Material : Hypalon Fabric
Boat Weight : 3500 kg (Full Load)
Propulsion System & Performance
Propulsion
Maximum h.p. : OBM 225hp x 2(pair)
Optimum h.p. : OBM 200HP x 2(pair)
Maximum speed : 47 knots
Endurance : 4 hours
Range : 160 n.m.
Complement : 6 persons
Fuel capacity : 300 L x 2 Built In Al. Tank
Even the existing RHFB would be a better operating experience, especially with a fully air-conditioned cabin. Not to mention the much more advanced hull design that is much more stable than the old RHIBs even with inflatable floatation collars.
What APMM can do is, to buy the design of RHFB, then just tender the assembly/build of the boats to shipyards. Then you can get best of both worlds, standardised design of boat, with competitive prices due to open competition between shipyards.