Kuala Lumpur, KLS: Malaysian government announced recently that six Littoral Combatant Ships (LCS) are starting to be built in 2011. When Ministry of Defence answering parliamentary question raised by Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz in July, it said the second batch of Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) project is listed under Tenth Malaysian Plan.
“MINDEF plans to build another six ships at Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) while the building period will extend to Eleventh Malaysian Plan. New naval ship will have three dimension war fighting capability.”
Apparently, this announcement has confirmed BNS will remain as the main constructor for the remaining OPV project.
The first batch of OPV was called New Generation Patrol Vessel while the second batch renamed as Littoral Combatant Ship. The construction of first batch will be completed in this year and the last ship will be delivered in August 2010.
Shipyards from Germany and Turkey have submitted their solutions to MINDEF and the Royal Malaysian Navy for review during LIMA 2009. However, there is no final decision being made yet.
Apart from that, MINDEF said according to 1995’s MOU signed between PSC-ND (now renamed as BNS) and government, the former was assigned to build 27 OPVs for the Navy.
“The 27 OPVs was formulated basing on the factors of to replace those patrol crafts which were handed over to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and Fast Attack Crafts will reach 45 years old during 2015,”said MINDEF in parliamentarian answer.
MINDEF said the 27 OPVs plan is still relevant for the time being, but the construction will take into account the government’s financial capability via and five years term Malaysian Plan.
src:http://www.klsreview.com/HTML/2010Jul_Dec/20100826_01.html
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