Malaysia selects Turkish MILGEM corvette for its LMS Batch 2 project

Infrographic on LMS Batch 2 project . Photo c/o Malaysia MINDEF.

The Malaysian Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the its Turkish counterpart for the basis of Government-to-Government (G2G) procurement of defense systems, as well as signing a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) with the its Turkish shipbuilder STM selection and procurement of Turksih-built corvettes  for the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) under its Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) Batch 2 program.

The signing ceremonies were held on 10 June 2024 in Ankara, Turkey with Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamad Khaled Nordin and Turkish Defense Industry Agency President Haluk Gorgun leading the even, together with officials from STM and the Royal Malaysian Navy.

The ships selected are based on the Turkish Navy’s MILGEM program using the Ada-class corvette as basis, and will be modified to suit the RMN’s requirements. 

These are far more improved to the LMS Batch 1 ships acquired by the Malaysian MINDEF from China, which resulted to the Keris-class patrol vessels.

Delivery of all three ships to the RMN are expected to be within 42 months, and will include supply of products from Turkish defense companies including Aselsan, Roketsan, and Havelsan, etc.

It is expected that the ships will be 99.6 meters long, has a maximum beam of 14.42 meters, and a draft of 3.94 meters, and a displacement of around 2,500 tonnes.

It would be powered by four marine diesel engines in Combined Diesel and Diesel (CODAD) configuration allowing a maximum speed of 26 knots, a cruising speed of 14 knots, and a maximum range of 4,000 nautical miles at cruising speed.

The ships will have heavier weapons that the LMS Batch 1 Keris-class, which will now include a 76mm naval gun, two 12.7mm heavy machine guns using the Aselsan STAMP remote-controlled weapon station, two quadruple launchers of Roketsan Atmaca anti-ship missiles, a 30mm Aselsan SMASH autocannon,  and a 4-cell VLS with 16 South Korean K-SAAM Haegung surface-to-air missiles quadpacked per cell.

[1] Malaysian MINDEF

[2] Naval News

[3} Janes