Malaysian Navy takes delivery of second Keris-class Littoral Mission Ship


According to information published by the Air Times website on January 14, 2021, the Royal Malaysian Navy has received the second Keris-class Littoral Mission Ship (LMS).
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Russian Vyborg Shipyard laid the Purga ice class coastguard ship of project 23550 925 001 Royal Malaysian Navy takes delivery of second Keris-class LMS Littoral Mission Ship. (Picture source Royal Malaysian Navy)


The procurement of the fourth LMS (Littoral Mission Ship) was signed in March 2017 under the Defence Ministry’s contract with Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd and the cooperation of China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co Ltd, China. The ships were built by Malaysia and China companies under a joint development agreement.

The first LMS ship was commissioned in January 2020 under Keris-class name. The KD Keris (111) was launched in April 2019 at Wuchang Shipbuilding’s facilities in Wuhan, China, followed by second-of-class Sundang (112) in July the same year

Two Keris-class have been built in China by China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Co. Ltd, while ships three and four have been constructed in Malaysia by local company Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation (BHIC)

In December 2020, the Royal Malaysian Navy has announced that the construction phase of the fourth LMS was completed and the ship was successfully launched at the Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Ltd (WSIG) shipyard at Wuhan, China.

The propulsion of Keris-class includes two MTU 4000 engines powered by two fixed pitch propellers. The ship is also equipped with three diesel generators and a single emergency diesel generator. The ship can reach a top speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph), a cruising range of 2,000 nmi (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph), and an endurance of 15 days.

The LMS Keris-class has an overall length of 69 m, a beam of 9 m, a draught of 2.8 m, and a displacement of 700 tons. She has a crew of 45 people including 8 officers and 37 enlisted.

The LMS Keris-class is armed with one Chinese-made H/PJ-17 30mm single barrel gun mounted on a remote weapon station and two 12.7mm heavy machine guns.