Malaysia's GOWIND LCS: Maharaja Lela (2501) Sharif Mashor (2502) Raja Mahadi (2503) Mat Salleh (2504) Tok Janggut (2505) Mat Kilau (2506)
Malaysia launches its first French-designed LCS as Navy moves to modernize
Mike Yeo Defence News
Malaysia has launched the first of its new littoral combat ships ordered under a $2 billion contract signed in 2011, as the Southeast Asian country continues its drive to modernize its navy.
The ship, named the Maharaja Lela, was launched Thursday at the facilities of builder Boustead Naval Shipyard in Lumut, Malaysia, in a ceremony attended by Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy Adm. Kamarulzaman Bin Haji Ahmad Badaruddin.
Malaysia’s LCS design is based on the French Gowind 2500 corvette, and the first ship is expected to enter service with the Royal Malaysian Navy in the first half of 2019. All six of the program’s ships are scheduled to be in service by 2023. Boustead had laid the keel of the second ship in February this year.
The 3,100-ton ship incorporates stealth characteristics, and its primary armament consists of a single BAE Systems Mk3 57mm gun in a stealthy turret; a 16-cell Sylver vertical launching system for the MBDA VL MICA surface-to-air missile; and a pair of quadruple launchers for the Kongsberg anti-ship Naval Strike Missile. Additionally, a pair of MSI Seahawk 30mm cannons and two J+S Marine triple torpedo launchers are also fitted.
The ship’s electronics suite includes the Thales Smart-S Mk2 3-D surveillance radar and Captas-2 variable-depth sonar, while Rheinmetall will supply the TMX/EO Mk2 fire-control radar and TMEO Mk2 electro-optical tracking systems for the ships. A Swiss subsidiary of Rheinmetall recently agreed on a joint venture with Boustead to provide project management, contract administration and related services for Malaysia’s defense industry.
France’s Naval Group will supply its SETIS scalable multifunction combat management system for the ships, with shipbuilder Boustead to lead the combat system equipment procurement and integration for Malaysia’s LCS program.
As Defense News has previously reported, Malaysia is currently in the process of recapitalizing its aging Navy, with plans to reduce the number of ship types from 15 to five. The so-called 15-to-5 plan, unveiled in 2015, calls for the reduction of the service’s order of battle from 15 to five classes of ships and submarines, which it hopes will trim sustainment costs by retiring older ships and reducing the number of ship classes operated by the Navy by 2030.
The five classes of ships are planned to consist of 12 LCS vessels, 18 Kedah-class offshore patrol vessels, 18 Chinese-designed littoral mission ships, three multi-role support ships of an as-yet undetermined design and four submarines. Of these, those in service include only six Kedah-class offshore patrol vessels, which are based on the German Blohm+Voss MEKO 100 design, along with two French Scorpene diesel-electric submarines.
Malaysian naval power suffers budget woes
Malaysia’s centerpiece plan for the restructure and recapitalization of its Navy has also been adversely affected by the country’s budget woes, leaving most of it underfunded or unfunded altogether.
The so-called 15-to-5 plan, unveiled in 2015, calls for a reduction of the Royal Malaysian Navy order of battle from 15 to five classes of ships and submarines, which it hopes will trim sustainment costs by retiring older ships and reducing the number of ship classes operated by the RMN by 2030.
The five ship classes will ideally consist of 12 French-designed littoral combat ships, 18 Kedah-class offshore patrol vessels, 18 Chinese-designed littoral mission ships, three multirole support ships of an as-yet undetermined design and four submarines.
Of these, only six lightly-armed Kedah-class offshore patrol vessels are already in service together with two French Scorpene diesel-electric submarines. Malaysia has also ordered six littoral combat ships based on the French Gowind 2500 design under a $2 billion contract signed in 2011, with two ships in various stages of construction at Malaysia’s Boustead Naval Shipyard.
The 3,000-ton ships will be armed with the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile and MBDA’s vertical launch MICA for anti-ship and anti-aircraft work respectively, along with 57mm and 30mm guns as well as torpedo tubes. The first ship is expected to be delivered to the RMN in late 2019 or early 2020.
Malaysia is also pressing forward with its Littoral Mission Ship program, signing a contract in early November 2016 with China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense for an initial four ships with two built by Boustead and the other two in China.
The so-called 15-to-5 plan, unveiled in 2015, calls for a reduction of the Royal Malaysian Navy order of battle from 15 to five classes of ships and submarines, which it hopes will trim sustainment costs by retiring older ships and reducing the number of ship classes operated by the RMN by 2030.
The five ship classes will ideally consist of 12 French-designed littoral combat ships, 18 Kedah-class offshore patrol vessels, 18 Chinese-designed littoral mission ships, three multirole support ships of an as-yet undetermined design and four submarines.
Of these, only six lightly-armed Kedah-class offshore patrol vessels are already in service together with two French Scorpene diesel-electric submarines. Malaysia has also ordered six littoral combat ships based on the French Gowind 2500 design under a $2 billion contract signed in 2011, with two ships in various stages of construction at Malaysia’s Boustead Naval Shipyard.
The 3,000-ton ships will be armed with the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile and MBDA’s vertical launch MICA for anti-ship and anti-aircraft work respectively, along with 57mm and 30mm guns as well as torpedo tubes. The first ship is expected to be delivered to the RMN in late 2019 or early 2020.
Malaysia is also pressing forward with its Littoral Mission Ship program, signing a contract in early November 2016 with China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense for an initial four ships with two built by Boustead and the other two in China.
Neither the design of the ship nor the contract value has been disclosed, although it is known that the ships only will be equipped with guns; they will also be fitted for additional weapons and sensors, but budget constraints may affect their equipping. Under the 15-to-5 plan, these ships will replace a number of vessel classes currently in the RMN including the RMN's Laksamana-class corvettes.
However, Malaysian defense analyst Dzirhan Mahadzir told Defense News that the RMN's priority should still be the introduction of multirole support ships or MRSS, citing the strategic sealift capability gap left by the loss of the former U.S. Navy Newport News-class landing ship tank KD Sri Inderapura following an onboard fire in 2009.
Mahadzir noted that the MRSS also "will allow the RMN to conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations more effectively and also move troops and equipment in large quantity where airlift is not possible or available."
Indonesian state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL signed a memorandum of understanding with Boustead in late 2016 to collaborate on Malaysia's MRSS program, which will be based on the Maksassar-class design used by the navies of Indonesia and the Philippines.
To sum up, it must be noted that Malaysia’s most immediate and pressing security challenges are in the maritime domain. In addition to the spillover of lawlessness and banditry from the southern Philippines into its eastern states, Malaysia — like neighboring Indonesia and Singapore — has had to grapple with piracy off its coastline in both the Malacca Straits and South China Sea.
This is on top of the need to patrol the offshore oil and gas fields that form a significant part of the country's revenue stream, and to enforce its claims to the disputed islands and features of the South China Sea. With no end to its budgetary squeeze in sight, the RMN may find itself forced to sustain a shrinking pool of elderly vessels, casting further doubt on Malaysia's ability to secure its own waters.
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