Bespoke French Frigates For Malaysia

A year ago Malaysia ordered six Gowind corvettes from France. As part of the deal the French builder agreed to set up production in Malaysia and to modify the Gowind design to meet Malaysian requirements. Because of this arrangement the first Gowind will not enter service until 2019, two years later than if they were built in France. Malaysia is using this deal to develop its own warship building capability.

 

The Malaysian Gowinds were originally to be 2,400 ton corvettes, but the Malaysian modifications have increased them to 3,000 ton frigates with a crew of 106. The Malaysian Gowinds are still armed with a 57mm gun, anti-aircraft missiles, anti-submarine torpedoes, and an EC-275 helicopter. It has a top speed of 48 kilometers an hour. Some of the modifications made include the turret for the 57mm gun being modified to maintain its low-radar visibility aspect in the expanded superstructure. Design modifications like this were part of the basic Gowind design, which can be applied to ships using the basic Gowind design but varying from 1,100-4,000 tons displacement. These ships have a maximum endurance (assuming mostly using cruise speed) of 21 days.

 

With the Malaysian sales, French warship builder DCNS has won its first export customer for the new Gowind concept. Malaysia is buying the Gowinds for about $500 million each. DCNS has had a very difficult time finding any export customers for Gowind. The French Navy wasn't buying either. So three years ago DCNS began building one of the 1,100 ton OPV Gowinds with its own money and persuaded the French Navy to provide a crew to operate the ship for 18-36 months. Thus, DCNS could pitch potential customers with the fact that at least one Gowind has been built and successfully served with the French Navy. This worked for Malaysia, as did the willingness to move construction  (and assembly of some of the electronic subsystems) to Malaysia. France is supplying eight Exocet anti-ship missiles for each Gowind, along with quad launchers of VL-MICA anti-aircraft missiles (with a range of 20 kilometers) and two 30mm anti-missile autocannon.

Scorpenes add 'muscle' to RMN

In 2002, The Royal Malaysia Navy (RMN) procured two French-made Scorpene submarines at the cost of RM 3.4 billion.

According to the RMN, the move was to prevent a repeat of the '1511 episode' when the Portuguese armada attacked and seized the port city of Melaka, famous for being the trading hub in Southeast Asia, at the time.

In the annals of Malaysian history, the Portuguese overwhelmed the defenders of Melaka after three days of heavy fighting that culminated in the capture of the bridge over the Melaka River which led to the fall of the city.

The Portuguese had far superior armaments including muskets and cannons as compared to the defenders whose spirit and bravery was beyond question.

After the Portuguese, the Dutch came in 1644 followed by the British after the Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1824 in London.

Submarines

RMN chief Laksamana Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar said the two submarines were meant to add 'muscle' to the country's defence of its waters and sovereignty.

During a recent media visit to the RMN base here, Abdul Aziz said despite adverse claims against the nation's defence assets, he was confident of the submarines' capability in ensuring protection of Malaysia's sovereignty.

Abdul Aziz took over as the RMN chief in 2008. The Scorpenes, named after the first two Malaysian prime ministers, are advanced diesel-powered submarines. The KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Razak operate on the stealth principle and can surprise any encroaching hostile vessels.

Each submarine, which is also capable of water-to-surface attack, can stay under the sea for up to 45 days with 32 crewmen onboard.

Training Centre

Abdul Aziz said the RMN base here is set to be the world's first training centre for Scorpene submarines after the completion of a second simulator training facility, costing about Euro 27 million (RM 135 million), early next year.

"India and Chile have expressed interest in training their navy personnel at the base.

"As Malaysia is a littoral state, it is vital for RMN to enhance its capability in Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)," he said, adding that the effort was part of modernisation plans of the armed forces.

Littoral zone is the part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged.

In the years after the Second World War, Emergency and Confrontation, the RMN has gone through a modernisation programme and is considered to be among the strongest navies in Southeast Asia now.

The RMN has staff strength of about 20,000 personnel with modern naval assets in the region.

There is also an airbase for the fleet air arm that consists of two squadrons of naval helicopters.

Other than the various classes of patrol ships and vessels, the RMN is now equipped with aircrafts comprising of the Agusta Westland Super Lynx 300 and Eurocopter AS 555 Fennec helicopters.

The navy also has a special force called 'Paskal."