Malaysia's third Keris-class Littoral Mission Ship launched by Chinese shipbuilder

 

The 3rd Keris-class LMS, which is still unnamed. Photo c/o Royal Malaysian Navy through Naval News.

Chinese shipbuilder Wuchang Shipbuilding Industrial Group has launched the third Keris-class Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) for the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) during ceremonies held on 30 October 2020.

The still unnamed ship is expected to undergo Harbor Acceptance Test phase soon, and a Sea Acceptance Test will proceed afterwards. The ship will be given a name on the ship's physical delivery ceremony scheduled on September 2021.

The Malaysian government ordered four (4) new Littoral Mission Ships from China Shipbuilding & Offshoire International Co. Ltd. in 2017, with Malaysian shipbuilder Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd originally designated to receive technology and build the third and forth ships of the class.

This plan was changed by the succeeding government administration, which found it cheaper for Wuchang Shipbuilding to construct all 4 ships.

So far, Wuchang Shipbuilding has delivered the lead ship of the class, now commissioned with the RMN as the KD Keris (111), while the delivery of the second ship of the class has been delayed and not yet made.

The Keris-class are 68 meters long, 9.20 meters wide, has a maximum speed of 22 knots and a maximum range of 2,000 nautical miles at 16 knots.

The are equipped with Chinese-made sensors and weapon systems including one 30mm CS/AN3 naval gun and two CS/LM6 12.7mm heavy machine guns, the SR2405A air and surface search radar, and OFC-3 electro-optical tracking system (EOTS).



[1] Naval News