RMN receives second Littoral Mission Ship, Sundang

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 -- The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) received its second Littoral Mission Ship (LMS), Sundang at Wucang Port, Shanghai, China today after more than two years of construction.

RMN in a statement today said Sundang had successfully passed a series of acceptance tests at the port and sea before being handed over to the Malaysian government and was scheduled to sail back to the country in the third week of this month.

According to the statement, Sundang was first built on Oct 23, 2018 at Wuchuan Shuangliu Manufacture Base, Wuhan, China before it was scheduled to be handed over to the Malaysian government on April 12 last year.

However, it can only be carried out today following the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic which saw the construction of Sundang halted on January 23 last year.

"The project was reactivated on May 18, 2020 and the prospective Sundang crew was sent back to Qidong, Shanghai in October last year to resume a series of familarisation training on the ship," according to the statement.

The statement said the ship's commissioning ceremony will be held on a date set at the Kota Kinabalu RMN base by the Chief of Navy, Admiral Tan Sri Mohd Reza Mohd Sany.

LMS is one of the five ship classes in RMN’s 15 to 5 Armada Transformation Programme and the procurement contract of four LMSs was signed between the Ministry of Defence and Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd on March 23, 2017 in collaboration with China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co Ltd.

It is the first defence capital asset acquisition project from China and the third and fourth ships are scheduled to be delivered in September and November respectively.

-- BERNAMA