Malaysia mulls naval upgrades amid IS threat, South China Sea standoff

Malaysia is gunning for a revamp of its aging naval fleet, as countries in the region prepare to face threats from the influx of Islamic State (IS) militants fleeing Mosul, and from rising tensions in the South China Sea.

Defence spending in the Asia Pacific region is expected to hit US$250 billion (RM1 trillion) from 2016-20, IHS Janes Defence Weekly said in December, and Malaysia intends to improve on its capabilities alongside other states in the hotly contested South China Sea, even as its defence budget narrows.

Malaysia's navy aims to replace all 50 vessels in its aging fleet as the country cut its total defence budget by 12.7% to RM15.1 billion this year. That will be led by the procurement of four littoral mission ships (LMS) built in collaboration with China.

"The LMS are designed for many aspects of maritime security such as dealing with cross-border crime, piracy, anti-terrorism and search and rescue operations," Malaysian navy chief Admiral Tan Sri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin told Reuters in an interview.

"These ships would be very capable of dealing with the threat posed by Daesh and other maritime security concerns," Kamarulzaman said, referring to the Arabic acronym for the IS.

Malaysia is expected to formalise the LMS deal with China at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) this week to build four LMS and acquire the technology to construct more of the ships at home. The navy hopes this will enable them to eventually obtain a total of 18 LMS.

Plans to acquire four LMS from China were first announced in November.

Over 500 exhibitors from 36 countries will parade their wares at this year's LIMA, which is held every two years in Langkawi.

Kamarulzaman said they are also in the final stages of negotiations with French shipbuilder DCNS to launch a programme to build the larger littoral combat ships (LCS), which he said should be formally announced in August or September this year.

The navy is also looking to acquire three new multi-role support ships (MRSS) and two more submarines to round off the fleet.

COMPETING NEEDS

The naval build-up in the region comes as tensions rise in the South China Sea, where Beijing's creation of artificial islands has alarmed some Asian countries and stoked friction between China's navy and the US air force.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims.

Under President Joko Widodo, Indonesia's total defence spending jumped around 26%, and last month Thailand's military government approved a 13.5 billion baht (US$389.05 million) submarine deal with China after putting the purchase on hold last year.

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), however, need to share intelligence if they want their big-ticket buys to be of any use, said Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst Institute of Strategic and International Studies.

Shahriman said asset upgrades like Malaysia's LMS programme are important, but stressed that such high-value procurements would end up sailing blindly without strong intelligence sharing among the 10 Asean members, supported by a wide network of surveillance equipment.

"We're talking military patrol aircraft, radars, drones ... and in bigger numbers. Quantity is a quality of its own. It doesn't make sense to aspire to top-of-the-range equipment but in small numbers," Shahriman said.

"Equipment that contributes to maritime domain awareness ought to be the priority for all. You can't fight what you can't see." — Reuters

Posted on 21 March 2017 - 08:54am on The Sun Daily

RMN Chief: LMS capable of conducting 80% mission for LCS

LANGKAWI: The Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) purchased by the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) is capable of conducting 80% of the missions for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).

RMN Chief Tan Sri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin said it was also much cheaper than the LCS.

"The purchase of the LMS is subject to our budget but it is not an asset which can be compared to the LCS which is used for combat, war and such, and is of course, more expensive because the LCS' capability is much higher," he told reporters when met at Resort World Langkawi today.

The four LMS which will bought from China will be jointly built by Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd and China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co Ltd.

The cost of purchasing the ships will be fully borne by the RMN under the Transformation 15-5 Programme.

The programme is part of several initiatives planned for 'saving efficiency' whereby RMN will replace old ships which require high operating and maintenance costs, with new, more sophisticated ships with lower operating and maintenance cost.

However, Ahmad Kamarulzaman said, depending on need and affordability, the RMN hoped to increase the capabilities of the LMS by adding guided missiles to it to increase combat strength.

"What is more important now is the maritime aspect, such as the threat of encroachment from militants, cross-border crimes, and increasing our capabilities especially in the Sulu Sea," he said.

When completed, the LMS will be based at Maritime Region Two or the Armada 6 in the Sulu Sea to guard national waters. — Bernama

Procurement of LMS necessary to replace ageing vessels currently used by RMN

The Sun Daily Posted on 8 November 2016 - 05:22pmThe procurement of Littoral Mission Ships (LMS) from China is necessary to replace the ageing and high maintenance vessels currently being used by the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said many of the RMN armada have been in operation for more than 30 years and not cost effective to be used anymore.

He also dismissed claims of the exorbitant cost to procure the four LMS, stating that the value to build the ships are estimated to be around RM1 billion.

"The current armada is currently beyond the age of 30. Therefore, the operational cost increases every year," he said.

"The procurement is important to ensure RMN's assets are capable to perform operational duties continuously," he told Dewan Rakyat during the Minister's Question Time.

He was replying to Datuk Raime Unggi (BN - Tenom) who asked the importance of LMS purchase following a memorandum of understanding between Malaysia and China.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak had announced the purchase of four LMs during his recent official visit to China.

However, some had raised allegations that the procurement and construction of the ships would cost Malaysia RM3 billion.

Hishammuddin said the construction of the ships would be handled by Malaysian firm Boustead Naval Shipyard and China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Company from China.

He added the bilateral cooperation would improve the ability of local firm to become more competitive in defence industry.

"Many of the our current threats coming from non-state actors such as the Islamic State," he said.

"This has made the LMS as a priority to strengthen the RMN," he added.

He said RMN assets that were no longer cost effective would be unaccredited and decommissioned.

"It would be decommissioned in phases based on the current government policies," he added.

What are our defence priorities?

FRENCH President Francois Hollande was here recently to persuade the government to buy the Dassault Aviation SA's Rafale fighter jets.

The Rafale is seen as a frontrunner as Malaysia looks to buy up to 18 jets in a deal potentially worth more than RM9 billion.

The French have even started advertising their Rafale fighter jets in newspapers.

British Aerospace is also competing for a slice of Malaysia's defence pie, trying to flog their Typhoons in a RM10 billion deal they hope to clinch with a "Buy 1-Get 1 free" offer.

The French are desperate to sell their arms because 60% of their exports are made up of arms. They obviously have not heeded the wise words of their literateur Albert Camus who said, "Peace is the only battle worth waging".

The key question is whether Malaysia actually needs any of these fighter jets, considering their cost is spiralling way out of control and such jets are quickly obsolete? Malaysian taxpayers need to be wary of this record breaking arms deal.

RM500m a fighter jet?

According to Bank Negara, Malaysia's total external debt has risen to RM909 billion in 2016, which is equal to 73.9% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

This raises a red flag about whether we can afford such levels of defence spending and importantly, is what we are spending allocated wisely on arms priorities considering our debt situation?

Taxpayers deserve answers to these key questions:

» Are multi-role combat aircraft our priority considering the latest F35s cost at least half a billion ringgit a piece?

» And if the F35 Raptors cost more than RM500 million, should these French Rafaels similarly cost more than RM500 million?

» Can we see some competitive offers from other manufacturers?

Our Defence Ministry says it is planning to replace the RMAF squadron of Russian MiG-29 combat planes.

Can we have a report on the relative performances of our MiGs, Sukhois, Hawks and F18s?

Can we also have an audit report on the compatibility of our Russian, British, US (and now French?) fighter jets and especially the compatibility of their avionic systems?

What lessons do our past purchase choices hold for our future fighter jet procurements?

The prime minister has said Malaysia's defence spending will continue to grow as our armed forces have embarked on a long-term plan to modernise and upgrade their equipment and that RM26 billion had been allocated under the 11th Malaysia Plan for defence, public order and enforcement.

Who are our enemies and what appropriate weaponry do we need?

One would think that this is the first question the Ministry of Defence would ask in the multi-billion decisions to procure armaments.

Yet our National Defence Policy has never been properly debated in Parliament.

One of the rare moments we got to use our F18 fighter bombers and Hawk 208 fighter jets was against those invaders described by the defence minister as a "rag-tag army" at Lahad Datu a few years ago.

Wouldn't armoured cars and tanks and mortars have been sufficient in that 4 sq km area of land against that motley crew?

What are our priorities for naval defence?

When the bombardment began at Lahad Datu, it was mentioned that the navy had formed a cordon to prevent the intruders from getting away.

It was clear that there never was a cordon to prevent any intruders from getting INTO Sabah all these years.

Looking at the geography of the area, our two submarines built by the French DCNS sitting pretty at Sepanggar Bay and our six New Generation Patrol Vessels (costing RM9 billion) were not the most suitable vessels in the circumstances.

It brings to mind the question of the appropriate vessels that should be the priority for our navy.
As part of the RM5 billion arms deal signed between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Margaret Thatcher in 1989, we procured two corvettes built by the Yarrow
shipbuilders costing RM2.2 billion.

At the time, the Royal Malaysian Navy said it required 16 offshore patrol vessels but due to financial constraints, the RMN could only afford four or five of these locally-built OPVs.

Mindef had budgeted RM85 million per OPV. Now, in the light of the latest incident at Lahad Datu, Malaysians will be in a better position to see the appropriate vessels that would be more suitable to secure the Sabah coastline.

Before the Lahad Datu incident, our main "enemies" testing the capacity of our armed forces were the pirates in the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca.

There were no bigger "enemies" than those seafaring marauders.

Are state-of-the-art fighter jets and submarines the appropriate weaponry against pirates?

These would likewise be inappropriate if "international terrorists" and suicide bombers choose to target Malaysia.

Rising tensions in the South China Sea

We are now told that Malaysia wants to revamp of its ageing naval fleet in the face of threats from rising tensions in the South China Sea.

Malaysia's navy aims to replace all 50 vessels in its fleet and this will be led by the procurement of four littoral mission ships (LMS) built in collaboration with China. The deal is worth more than RM1 billion.

One would imagine that by its reference to "rising tensions", the government is referring to China's claims to the disputed islands in the South China Sea.

So if China is seen as a possible "enemy", should China have a hand in the building of these littoral mission ships? It seems a strange logic in justifying the purchase of these four warships.

Or are the Asean countries also seen as possible "enemies" since there is an unspoken arms race among the Asean countries through the years which merely exhausts the hard-earned resources of our peoples.

Indonesia's total defence spending has jumped around 26%, and Thailand's military government has just approved a US$389.05 million submarine deal with China.

The Malaysian Navy is reported to be in the final stages of negotiations with French shipbuilder DCNS to build the larger littoral combat ships (LCS), three new multi-role support ships (MRSS) and two more submarines.

Knowing the bill for the two Scorpene submarines was more than RM7 billion, Malaysian taxpayers should be prepared for the worst.

So, exactly how are decisions made in the Ministry of Defence to buy the submarines, the corvettes, the frigates instead of more patrol boats to guard our coastlines?

With our external debt spiralling towards RM1 trillion, taxpayers would do well to question the government's defence priorities and to call on the government to justify the next multi-billion arms procurements with full transparency.

Malaysians need to be reminded that with RM1 billion, we can build at least 1,000 rural schools or 100 district hospitals.

by Kua Kia Soong is Suaram's adviser.

Posted on 30 March 2017 - 05:16pm