KOTA KINABALU: The fourth and the last LMS, KD Rencong was commissioned into RMN service here today (January 28, 2021). The ceremony was conducted by RMN chief Admiral Reza Sany who read out the commissioning declaration before handing it over to the Rencong first CO, Commander Khairuddin Ahmad.
Like her three other sister ships, KD Keris, KD Sundang and KD Badik, Rencong was built at Wuhan, China. Work on her started on September 19, 2019 and launched on December 16, 2020.
She was delivered and named on December 18, 2021 in Nanching City, China. Rencong arrived in Kota Kinabalu on December 28, 2021, just seven days after leaving China.
Rencong and the other Keris class ships, now part of the 11th LMS Squadron was built in China under a contract signed in 2017. According to the fact sheet published for the ceremony, Rencong like her sister ships are mostly equipped China made electronics and equipment including the surface search radar, SR2450A, OFC3 EOTS and NRJA ESM. The only Western made equipment publicly announced is the Sperry Marine navigation radar.
The ship is armed with a single CS/AND3 30mm main gun, two CS/LM6 12.7mm machine gun and two general purpose machine guns.
Rencong is 68 meters long, 9.2 meter wide and with a draught of 2.56 metres. She has top speed of 22 knots, a range of 2000 nautical miles and endurance of 15 days/
Speaking to reporters later, Reza said they hope to sign the contract for the LMS Batch II late this year or early next year.
He said it was likely that the first batch of LMS II will consist of three vessels, another five will be in the second batch. Reza said the final configuration of the LMS Batch II has yet to be finalised and it is unclear yet which design will be chosen.
–Malaysian Defence
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Hope the contract for the second batch of 8 LMS will be signed in this year. I believed it will be the new type/design of ship rather than this chinese made ship.
What are the contenders for this LMS 2, do we know?
No
If taking cue from the rehulling project, is it possible to remake the Keris class LMS hull form based on the blueprints but topped off with a locally designed superstructure and built by a local shipyard to the exact specs of TLDM fitted out exactly as they want?
No, idea