Pertahanan Republik Indonesia

KD Kedah - the first MEKO A-100 class ship of RMN (photo : ImdexAsia)

The Royal Malaysian Navy conditionally accepted its first Kedah-class MEKO A100-class corvette at the service’s Lumut naval base in an official handover ceremony on 3 April.

PSC-Naval Dockyard (PSC-ND) was originally due to begin deliveries of the six-ship Kedah-class in 2004. However, the first two vessels failed their initial acceptance tests in early 2005 and the dockyard was beset by management problems, leading the government’s Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (Armed Forces Provident Fund) and Boustead Holdings to take over the company in August 2005.

First-of-class Kedah was only conditionally accepted, as the ship still requires several tests to be conducted, although Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak stated that the vessel had passed all of its major tests.

KD Pahang - the second of Meko A-100 class ship of the Royal Malaysia Navy (photo : Militaryphotos)

The remaining trials are expected to be completed before June, allowing it to be fully handed over to the navy for commissioning into service and allowing it to carry the royal designation prefix KD (Kapal Diraja – His Jajesty’s Ship).

The defence minister added that the government was happy with the new management of PSC-ND and was confident that it would be able to fulfil the contractual obligation to deliver all six vessels of the class by 2008.

Datuk Seri Najib also stated that the navy expects to have the second MEKO corvette, Pahang, delivered by July.

(Jane’s)