I guess you can see the news on the launching of Gagah Samudera in the local defence blogs and articles in the newspapers especially since Utusan Malaysia front-paged the news. Mind you this is not the first combat ship built in Malaysia since MSE built the OPV KD Marikh and Hong-Leong Lurssen Shipyard built the six units of FAC-G Jerung class, The first that can be attributed to this shipbuilding is that it is the first training ship that is mission specific to the RMN as previously the Navy had to use their elderly warships to be converted to training ships while retaining their patrolling functions like the KD Rahmat and KD Tuah at the time. This was not conducive due the lack of space for the extra crewman and proper training facilities as highlighted when KD Tuah had to be deployed to the Gulf of Aden. That was the choice that had to be made as we could not afford actual Midshipmen Training Ships that the larger navies had in their fleets.
Nonetheless inversely now the RMN can look forward to having their patrolling fleet strengthened after their small crafts were transferred to the MMEA as these training vessels can also be multi-rolled as basic OPVs although some may say their armaments are limited. Even the CNO in his speech below mentioned that these vessels are being looked at as the FAC replacements, though I believe they are actually actual replacement for the PB squadrons that was similarly lightly armed. But even though the dreaded by some FFNW word was not mentioned, I guess if the vessels are of modular construction, then it should not be a big issue to upgrade the vessels' armaments to full combat specifications.
Meanwhile, Aziz said the completion of the vessel had been long awaited
by RMN not only to be used for training but also to patrol and monitor
the country's waters.He pointed out that RMN had been waiting for the ship after 27 of its
ships were transferred to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency in
2006. "At the moment, we only have K.D. Hang Tuah which is already 46-years old and KLD Tunas Samudera as training ships.
"We hope the government will take into account a proposal to procure
another two ships from the company in the 11th Malaysia Plan as the two
extra ships can replace RMN's eight fast attack vessels which are almost
40 years old," he said in his speech. - New Straits Time 15 December 2012
I must say thanks to the far-sighted person who decided to change the Navy's initial request for a mixed squadron of 47 metres and 30 metres training boats to these two Offshore Training Vessels as it allowed the Navy to have its cake and eat it too. And to those who doubt and criticise the Armed Forces projects as always being not to schedule, the Master Schedule below should prove that for this project it is on the right track, similar to the CSAR helicopter project. But I doubt this fact will receive much coverage from them.
