Malaysia revises naval fleet retirement plans

One of the RMN's Laksamana-class corvette prior to removal of its missile systems due to obsolescence.

The Chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Adm. Mohamad Reza Mohamad Sany announced that there would be some changes on the original plans to modernize their naval fleet based on the RMN’s 15-to-5 Plan.

Among the changes are delaying the retirement of the four (4) Laksamana-class corvettes originally planned for retirement between 2019-2020, and the four (4) Mahamiru-class minehunters between 2019-2021.

Two of the Mahamiru-class minehunters will have its full mine-hunting capabilities restored.

Based on the RMN’s 15-to-5 plan, both the Laksamana-class corvettes and the Mahamiru-class minehunters will be replaced by the new Littoral Missions Ship (LMS) designed and made by China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Co. Ltd. (CSOIC) based on a 68-meter long design. 18 such ships are planned for purchase, although the first batch of only 4 ships was ordered with the first one scheduled to arrive by January 2020.



[1] Shephard Media
[2] Malaysia Defence
[3] Naval Analyses