SHAH ALAM: Sundang, second LMS launched. PCU Sundang, the second ship of the four LMS class was named and launched in China today. The ship was named and launched by Puan Seri Rusnah A. Rahman, the wife of the Armed Forces chief, at Shuangli, Wuhan China, says TLDM.
The new Sundang took over the name of a patrol class ship of the same name which was decommissioned on June 1, 2005. RMN says Sundang was a type of weapon used by Malay warriors in the past, just like the Keris, the first of class LMS. Pre commissioning unit, Keris, was launched at the same shipyard in China on April 15, this year. Keris launch here.
Second of Class
As the second ship of the class, Sundang, carried the pennant number 112. Keris is of course 111. According to RMN, Sundang will be undergoing tests after its launching and is scheduled to be delivered in April, 2020.
It said Keris was currently undergoing harbour and acceptance trials. It was expected to be delivered to the RMN by December, this year, as scheduled.
Two More
Work on the other two LMS are underway at the CSOC shipyard and are expected to be launched by mid of next year. The government signed a contract with Boustead Naval Shipyard for the supply of the four LMS, on March, 23, 2017. Originally two of the LMS were to built in China with another two built at the BNS facility in Pulau Jerejak, Penang.
However earlier this year, the contract was revised which led to all of the LMS to be built in China. With the revision, the contract for the LMS was reduced from RM1.17 billion to RM1.05 billion.
– Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (71)
Congrats to TLDM.
Is there any indication that the LMS is to be continued for batch 2 ?
Reply
There is no indication so farewell
With the current government obviously there will not be a 2nd batch from the same source. If we do get another LMS it will be to a different design so in essence the 5/15 won’t be the 5/15 any longer.
A follow on class of LMSs from another source will be fitted out differently; so much for commonality and reducing the logistical and support footprint.
The important thing is that we fully fit out the Chinese sourced LMSs they way they should be, in order for them to do what they’re meant to do. An oversized “when” and”if” however hovers over everything.
congrats RMN for new ship...
"There is no indication so farewell"...hahaha...that is fast mr marhalim..so new LMS design or contract on progress??
Reply
No new contract on progress. Obviously I have been tracking on whether or not any new developments on RMN so I can answer some questions pretty quickly. Some I may not
"With the current government obviously there will not be a 2nd batch from the same source."
And rightly so, considering the price we paid for them.
Could a 3rd party shipyard (hint: BNS) buy over the rights to that LMS design? The platform looks sound inspite of the pricetag, and if the local shipyard can build them at a cheaper price, arm it according to our needs, and make use of the local L3 CMS, it could be the affordable patrol ship that it was intended.
Hmm there was a lengthy write up yesterday on this. Suddenly today it is cut short and all pictures is deleted. What is the issue actually (with TLDM right? Even the twitter was deleted)
TLDM used to have great PR...
@ joe
The LMS is supposed to perform these roles in addition to patrol.
- hydrographic surveys (important for our sub fleet and safety of sailing in shallow waters, now done by KD Perantau and rented MV Dayang Sari)
- mine hunting (now done by Mahamiru class)
- logistics support and personnel transfer to GSP (now done by Sri Tiga class)
Can the LMS 68 conduct any of the above roles satisfactorily?
AM,
In a perfect world; funding would be released for a new batch of LMSs (to enable some of the FACs or Laksamanas) to decommission) and these 4 Chinese made ones would go to the MMEA to be used as patrol asserts.
Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world. These 4 ships might never be fully fitted out for RMN service and eventually ((in 5, 8 of more years?) we’ll get other LMSs but constructed to a different design and fitted out differently.
As I used to say; on paper the 5/15’s great but in reality it’s subject to factors beyond the RMN’s control and may face a natural death due to politics, funding, threat perceptions and other factors.
With the 4 LMSs; again it will be a combination of politics, poor decisions, funding and lack of political will that plagues the armed services.
@joe
"Could a 3rd party shipyard (hint: BNS) buy over the rights to that LMS design?"
Firstly, there would be a hefty price tag for TOT; secondly, BNS doesn't have the infrastructure or expertise to build the Chinese LMS thus it would incur even more costs; thirdly, this LMS is not suitable for what the RMN wants as ... points out.
@...
Conveniently forgotten by previous administration in order to sell the idea of buying these overpriced boats.
But that is old ground, not going to cover it again...
joe - “ The platform looks sound inspite of the pricetag”
How does it look “sound” when the price tag doesn’t include all the various systems needed for the LMSs to do what they were intended to? The issue is not the platform but what goes on it.