A computer-generated image of what the Royal Malaysian Navy's Littoral Mission Ship Batch 2 vessels would look like once in service. (STM)
Malaysia has signed for three Ada (MILGEM) class-derived corvettes with Turkish shipbuilder STM to fulfil requirements under Putrajaya's Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) Batch 2 programme.
A ceremony to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and a letter of acceptance (LOA) for the procurement was held on 10 June in Ankara, STM disclosed in a statement on the same day.
Malaysia's Minister of Defence Mohamed Khaled Nordin and President of Turkey's Defence Industry Agency Haluk Görgün attended the event.
Under the government-to-government deal, the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) will receive all three corvettes it signed for within 3.5 years, STM said in its statement.
STM will be the main contractor responsible for all phases of the project from design to performance, and from construction to delivery, the company added.
The corvette will have an overall length of 99.56 m, an overall beam of 14.42 m, and a draught of 3.94 m. It will displace about 2,500 tonnes.
It can accommodate up to 111 crew members and guests, with an endurance of up to 14 days.
Powered by four diesel engines in a combined diesel and diesel (CODAD) configuration and propelled by two controllable pitch propellers, the corvette can reach a maximum speed of 26 kt and cruising speed of 14 kt. At this cruising speed, it will have a maximum range of about 4,000 n miles.
Weapons on the corvette include a 76 mm naval gun in the primary position, two quadruple launchers for surface-to-surface missiles, and a 30 mm secondary gun and launchers for surface-to-air missiles.
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