Two new vessels this year or next for Eastern Fleet
Published on: Thursday, January 03, 2019
Sandakan: Two new generation patrol vessels – KD Terengganu and KD Pahang – will be transferred from Kuantan, Pahang to the Eastern Fleet Headquarters in Kota Kinabalu at the end of this year or next year.Eastern Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Datuk Abdul Rahman Ayob said the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) will also receive new assets by 2020 or 2021 but the location has yet to be decided."As part of our transformation, we have transferred two patrol vessels to Sandakan in September last year, namely KD Jerung and KD Paus, making 10 ships in Sandakan now to carry out patrolling duties and other requirements," he said.
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He said this to the media after witnessing the handing-over of duty ceremony of Commander Naval Region 2 (Pangwilla 2) at Dataran Markas Wilayah Laut 2, Navy Base, here, Wednesday."We will also have the Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) currently being constructed in Wuhan, China. There are four units and we expect to receive the first two in 2020 or 2021," he said, adding that the ships would probably be placed either in Sandakan or in Lumut, Perak.Abdul Rahman also said the cost of constructing one LMS is estimated at RM200 million.
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The ceremony saw Rear Admiral Dato' Ganesh Navaratnam handing over his duties to Acting Pangwilla 2, who is also Vice Pangwilla 2, Captain Azeman Yusoff, before the new Pangwilla 2 takes over on Jan 19.Ganesh, who has been serving as Pangwilla 2 for more than six months, will be transferred to the Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security (Midas), Ministry of Defence, Kuala Lumpur.
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When met later, Ganesh said during his assignment as Pangwilla 2 in Sandakan, he had implemented several efforts to improve the level of preparedness of RMN personnel through a series of exercises."In the past six months, we conducted two big exercises – Borneo war which involved our three ships and FORSTEX which involved seven ships as well as our aircraft, for a three-day exercise," he added.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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