Malaysia allocates MYR2.4 billion for three more littoral mission ships

The Royal Malaysian Navy's fourth Keris-class littoral mission ship, KD Rencong . The country has allocated MYR2.4 billion to procure three more follow-on vessels to this programme. (Royal Malaysian Navy)

The Malaysian government has allocated a budget of MYR2.4 billion (USD507 million) to procure three more follow-on vessels to the country's Keris-class littoral mission ship (LMS).

This allocation was announced by the country's prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, in his parliamentary address on 13 October. Anwar, who is also the country's finance minister, disclosed the allocation as part of his tabling of the country's proposed national budget for 2024.

The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) presently operates a class of four patrol vessel-like Keris-class LMSs, all of which were built by China's Wuchang Shipbuilding. The first-of-class KD Keris was commissioned in January 2020.

It has an overall length of 68.8 m, an overall beam of 9 m, and a hull draught of 2.8 m, and displaces about 700 tonnes at full load. The vessel can attain a top speed of 22 kt and a standard range of about 2,000 n mile (3,704 km) at 15 kt.

All four vessels in the class are armed with a CS/AN3 30 mm multi-purpose naval gun from the Chongqing Chang'an Industrial Group Limited in the primary position and two CS/LM6 12.7 mm heavy machine guns from the Sichuan Huaqing Machinery Company Limited.

In his address on 13 October, Anwar took aim at the defence procurement processes of previous administrations and how these practices have affected the country's defence readiness.

“The procurement of littoral combat ships (LCSs) has cost more than MYR6 billion, yet none have been completed”, said Anwar, in reference to Malaysia's beleaguered LCS programme.