LMS3 Handed Over To The RMN

17 September 2021

KD Badik 113 third Littoral Mission Ship of RMN (photo : 5523)

Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS), a subsidiary of Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd (BHIC), has handed over the third Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) to the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).

The physical hand over (PHO) ceremony of LMS3, the third out of four Keris-class LMS built in China by China Shipbuilding and Offshore Corp (CSOC), was held at the Wuchang Shipyard in Qidong, Nantong in Jiangsu Province, China on September 14.

The PHO follows the acceptance of all final certificates by RMN and the completion of the ship’s hull structure, living space and equipment plus combat system tests and trials, in compliance with the contract specifications.

RMN’s three men Final Acceptance Committee head of delegation Laksamana Pertama (equivalent to First Admiral) Zahid Abd Aziz TLDM, who is also the Defence Attache at the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing, accepted the PHO on behalf of the Malaysian government at the acceptance ceremony.

The tteam has conducted documentation inspection, physical inspection and attend the ship’s capabilities demonstration voyage.

LMS3 construction began on September 18, 2019 and was launched on October 28, 2020. It has undergo port and sea trials prior to the handover.

When commissioned, the LMS3 will join RMN’s 11th Squadron together with its sister ships of the class, the KD Keris, which was commissioned in January 2020, and KD Sundang, commissioned in March 2021. The 11th LMS Squadron is put under RMN’s Eastern Fleet Command Headquarters based in Kota Kinabalu Naval Base near Teluk Sepanggar, Sabah.

The procurement contract to jointly build the LMS was signed on March 23, 2017 between BNS and the Malaysian government, with CSOC acting as a partner shipyard of BNS.The LMS programme is undertaken via tripartite cooperation among RMN, BNS and three Chinese parties, namely CSOC, Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group, and China Classification Society (CSC).

While the LMS3 and LMS4 were supposed to be built at BNS facility in Lumut Naval Base near Manjung, Perak, a decision was made in 2019 to build these in China instead as part of cost saving measures.

BHIC said the company is proud of its contribution to the nation’s maritime defence and is hoping of securing contracts for the subsequent batches of LMS.

That said, the LMS Batch 2 program had only so far attract local and Western foreign shipyards instead of Chinese shipyards.

LMS is one of the 5 classes of ships that have been drafted under the Navy’s 15 to 5 Fleet Transformation Plan to upgrade its fleet and create an efficient, fit-for-purpose armada.

BNS was heavily criticised for the delays in the construction of 6 Maharajalela class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) which has been marred by cost over runs and delays. The company seems to only able to deliver only 2 ships of the class within the revised time frame. Such failure has caused public uproar and trust deficit on the company.

(MFH)