Forget About The Nakhoda Class

This may be old news to some but I just found out that the Nakhoda Class OPV built for the Brunei Navy has actually been sold to Algeria. I guess this should stop all the speculation or urging for the Malaysian Navy to take over the ships for our own use, as a stop gap measure to to beef up the navy especially since the escalation of tensions with China around Layang-Layang and the Indonesians about the waters off Johor.

Nonetheless I take off my hat to the Bruneians, silently they will now commission a new fleet of OPV and 4 Patrol Craft that may actually meet their deployment needs better than the Nakhoda class. Now if only our Kedah class fleet expansion acquisition can be as smooth.

Ocnus.Net
Business

How Lurssen Wooed Brunei

By Intelligence Online
04/06/2009

Jun 15, 2009 - 7:44:53 AM

Like car owners, governments insist that somebody take old equipment off their hands before buying new armaments. Complicated to set up, such deals nonetheless help suppliers to win contracts. The three Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) that Germany’s Lurssen yard is about to deliver to the Royal Brunei Navy were sold in return for the Germans helping Brunei get rid of three slightly older ships. Brunei initially contracted Britain’s GEC-Marconi in 1998 to deliver three OPVs. Bought out by BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions, GEC delivered the Nakhoda Ragam in 2003 and the Bendahara Sakam and Jerambak in 2004. The three patrol boats were equipped with VL Seawolf and MM40 Exocet Block 2 missiles made by MBDA. But Brunei refused to take delivery of the vessels on the grounds they didn’t correspond to specifications that had been negotiated with the British group. Lurssen then stepped in to offer to take them off Brunei’s hands and re-sell them in return for a contract with Brunei for a similar number of ships. Through its affiliate Global Naval Systems, Lurssen offered the British-built patrol vessels to several Gulf countries but didn’t find buyers. Finally, it got Algeria to acquire them last year. The proceeds from the sale of GEC’s ships to Algeria will be partly deducted from the price of the three new vessels for Brunei.. Source: Ocnus.net 2009

Ship Graveyard

It is sad to find a photo of a dead naval ship, especially when she has had an inglorious end after meriotous service. Decommissioned on 21st January 2010, it can be plainly seen from the photo that any effort to rebuild her would have been a lost cause. At least the incident has accelerated plans to acquire new logistics ship as her replacement. Her next fate remains unconfirmed to my knowledge to this date as the earlier plan for her to be sunk as an artificial reef off Pulau Sembilan had to be scrapped as it was too large and could pose a danger to passing ships. At least she was refloated for the decommissioning ceremony although whether she remains afloat still is unknown.

Supposedly Lame Wolf Shows Its Fangs

KD Tuanku Abdul Rahman proved its prowess by successfully test firing its Exocet missile from a depth of 55 metres as parts of its tropicalisation contractual activities. Not bad for a submarine that some quarters claim cannot even dive.

Read this => KD Tunku Abdul Rahman Proves Capability 26 July 2010

And for proof some video captures from Standupper at mymil. For more photos, sign up and see for yourself at this thread.

KD Tun Razak arrives at home base

It's been awhile since I made any posting but today seems a good day to start again by making a note of our second submarine arrival at her home base in Sepanggar Kota Kinabalu Sabah after transit in Lumut Base, Perak.

Sub ahoy: KD Tun Razak submarine arrive at Sepanggar Naval base in Kota Kinabalu.

I just hope that she will not receive any pot shots by so-called military experts especially on her ability to dive like her sister suffered especially when going through scheduled maintenance before comprehensive sea trials in the tropical waters of the region. I wonder if they thought that the submarine was on the surface the whole voyage when she sailed 7283 nautical miles through the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Malacca Straits before reaching home. Maybe because she was on the surface when she made her port of calls at Alexandria (Egypt), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Salalah (Oman) and Cochin (India) before arriving in Lumut in the photo below, they thought she did the same throughout the voyage. Well let's just wait and see what these 'experts' have to say in the future.

Practise Makes Perfect!

It is good to have maritime warfare exercise with foreign armed forces and during the week before Merdeka the Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Australian Navy conducted a combined maritime warfare exercise in the Malacca Straits called MASTEX 7/2009 . Malaysian navy ships KD Lekiu, KD Laksamana Hang Nadim and KD Mutiara joins their Australian counterparts Adelaide Class Frigate HMAS Darwin and Replenishment ship HMAS Success for the week long exercises. According the Joint Press Release by FOC RMN,this exercise is conducted annually and in this year it will start at Lumut Naval Base, for the Harbour Phase and the Closing Phase will be conducted in Port Klang. Last year it was held in the waters off Darwin Australia with the Adelaide Class Frigate HMAS Melbourne with an embarked Seahawk helicopter and Armidale Class Patrol Boat HMAS Maryborough, alongside Royal Malaysian Navy ship KD Jebat with a Super Lynx helicopter.

The bilateral exercise will provide the opportunity for both maritime powers to improve their interoperability and mutual understanding in common aspects of naval warfare. HMAS Darwin will also demonstrate the Royal Australian Navy's damage control and fire-fighting lessons learnt from recent work-ups and operational deployments. It is hoped by jointly practising maritime security exercises and anti-surface, anti-air and anti-submarine warfare techniques, the Navies of Malaysia and Australia will improve their effectiveness for any common taskings in the future.

A good week for our military

This has been a good week for our military as we received the last of our SU-30 MKM's to complete our first MRCA squadron, the arrival of our first submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman in Malaysian waters that was royally welcomed by our Agong and finally a report that says the contract for our CSAR Helicopter EC725 Cougar will finally be signed during the LIMA show this December. This is in addition to additional submarine purchase to be made under the 13th or 14th Malaysian Plan.

Even though the Defence Minister has said that his ministry is asking for a smaller allocation from the next national budget, it shows that capital purchases for Malaysian Defence will not be neglected. In fact there are rumours that the MIG-29N replacement aircraft purchase will be announced during the LIMA show, that will be break the mould in the type of aircraft and the numbers purchase. Befitting the fact that our new Armed Forces Chief is now from the RMAF isn't it?

Kasturi Class SLEP Contracted

Credit : Huskers of Cari Forum

Further to my earlier post, I am glad that the SLEP for the Kasturi class frigates are finally contracted, especially since KD Kasturi has been stripped in readiness for the SLEP to commence. Hopefully after the modernisation, the Kasturis will finally revert to her true role as a frigate rather than a corvette as some currently classify the class.

August 12, 2009 18:40 PM

Boustead Unit Gets RM 703.823 Million Contract From Defence Ministry


KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 (Bernama) -- Boustead Holdings Bhd has been awarded a contract worth RM703.823 million from the Defence Ministry to undertake the Service Life Extension Programme of Kasturi Class Corvettes.

The contract, received by its subsidiary Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd, is for an implementation period of 53 months, it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia here today.

Boustead Holdings said the contract will not have a material effect on earnings for the financial year ending December 31, 2009, but will contribute positively to the future earnings of the group.

-- BERNAMA