KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — The Royal Malaysian Navy’s fourth Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) has completed the construction phase and was successfully launched at the Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Ltd (WSIG) shipyard at Wuhan, China today to begin the acceptance test phase at the port.
The Navy in a statement today said the official naming ceremony for the fourth LMS was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it would be conducted simultaneously with the physical handover of the ship in November 2021.
“The fourth LMS will join the 11th LMS squadron together with KD Keris (first LMS), Sundang (Second LMS) and the third LMS,” the statement read.
The statement also announced that the procurement of the LMS ships was implemented under the Defence Ministry’s contract with Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd that was signed on March 23, 2017 with the cooperation of China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co Ltd, China.
The LMS is one of five ships in the 15to5 Armada Transformation programme and is capable of conducting patrols, maritime supervision, search and rescue as well as enforcing the maritime laws of the country.
The fourth LMS will undergo a series of acceptance tests at the port and at sea before being handed over to the Navy in November 2021.
“The future crew of the fourth LMS is expected to be sent to China for orientation training in early April 2021 in China,” the statement read. — Bernama
