Contenders for Malaysia’s LMS Batch 2 tender emerge at LIMA 2023
Two Chinese-built Keris-class Littoral Mission Ships of the Royal Malaysian Navy attended LIMA 2023. However, the navy needs more capable vessels for the second batch. (Photo: Gordon Arthur)
Malaysia signed contracts for two ATR 72 MPA aircraft and three Anka-S MALE UAVs at LIMA 2023 in Langkawi. However, the naval competition attracting the greatest attention at the exhibition was a second batch of Littoral Mission Ships (LMS).
Under the original contract, the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) received four LMS from Wuhan Shipyard in China in 2020-22. Indeed, two of these 700t Keris-class vessels were present at LIMA, but sources told Shephard the 68.8m-long boats are not performing well.
Their relatively small size results in less-than-ideal seakeeping in bad weather, plus they are not well armed as they
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