KOTA KINABALU: Welcome Home, Keris. KD Keris RMN’s first LMS was welcomed home at the Sepanggar naval base here today. Sabah Governor Tun Juhar Maharudin welcomed Keris 45 crew members led by her first commanding officer Cdr Zulkarnain Rawi.
Speaking to the media following the ceremony, RMN chief Adm. Mohd Reza Mohd Sany said the navy wanted more LMS either built overseas or locally. He did not say however whether the government had given the nod for more LMSs.
The LMS class ships was an important development for RMN, Mohd Reza said as it allowed more hulls to be operational considering most of fleet consisted of old ships with high maintenance costs. Due to the limited number of ships, RMN last year had to operate KD Baung for some 260 days at sea last year.
“I hope the people will reminded of the sacrifices made by the crew of the ship when they talked about the navy and the investment needed to keep our ships at sea. Mohd Reza said Sundang, the second of class LMS is scheduled to arrive at Sepanggar this April. The two other LMS – yet to be named- are expected to sail home in May and August, 2021.
Keris was commissioned into service on Jan. 6 at Qidong, Shanghai, China where the ship was officially delivered to the RMN on Dec.31, 2019.Work on the other two LMS are underway at the Wuhan shipyard where Keris and Sundang were built and are expected to be launched by mid of next year.
The government signed a contract with Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) for the supply of the four LMS, in 2017. BNS contracted with China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Corporation (CSOC) for the design and manufacture of the LMS. Originally two of the LMS were to be built in China with another two built at the BNS facility in Pulau Jerejak, Penang. However a revision of the contract terms in early 2019 saw the contract price reduced and the last two LMS to be built in China.
— Malaysian Defence
View Comments (27)
It's a LMS...not LCS.
(Now everybody knows how you are eagerly waiting fot those LCS....😂).
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A typo, thanks for spotting it
Selamat datang KD Keris.
Nampak besar pula kapal LMS ni bila tgk saiz anggota yg ada di atas tu.
@ A
The LMS is actually the same size as our Laksamana class corvettes. But obviously with way lighter armament and sensors; not to mention slower top speed (22 knots vs 36 knots) and shorter range (2000 nautical miles at 16 knots vs 2300 nautical miles at 18 knots)
Anyway i dont think we would be able to use them where it matters the most, against encroaching chinese fishing vessels and coast guard ships in south china sea. Why we really need our MMEA OPVs and TLDM LCS to be ready as soon as possible.
Welcome home indeed. This is better than the old decrepit vessels that can breakdown anytime. Anyway let's see how reliable this vessel will be. May Allah protect all those who sail with her. Aamin
Now that its finally here, can we finally find out what kind of modular mission module system it uses please?
Quite okay i must say..better than kcr 60 tni at least in term of build and endurance as keris is told to be able to wistand high seastate ..Modules can come later..for now just get the hulls as tldm badly need them to replace aging fac, laksamana corvettes, minehunters n kd perantau..i wanna be positive about this..they will be another batch of lms after first 4 is done..
Like sampari class
Thanks for the good news. Will they be home based at sepanggar or sandakan?
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The chief did not say it
@ panca
Welcome to malaysiandefence. Are you from indonesia?
The Sampari class are not perfect, the design is to have plenty of upgrades and modifications planned for the new batch. But as a locally designed and built ship, i am really impressed. Also impressed on how indonesia manage to build its warships at amazing costs. The new batch for KCR60 costs just rupiah 210 milliar each (around USD 15.4 million). The 1st batch cost about USD9 million each.
111 already arrived , 112 on sea trial ... the other two , what the current progress on them?
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Just started construction