LUMUT – The acquisition of two multi-role support ships (MRSS), which are expected to be received in 2024, needs to be expedited without further interruptions, said Joint Forces commander Datuk Indera Yazid Arshad.
He said there was a need to procure the ships urgently to conduct more effective operations, considering that the existing assets were almost 40-years-old.
“The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) hopes that the government will continue to work on improving the assets of the Malaysian Armed Forces in order to safeguard the country’s maritime territories. These MRSS are indeed very important, not only to RMN, but also to the Malaysian Armed Forces and the country.
“These assets are important to ensure that the needs of logistical operations as well as support for humanitarian aid and natural disasters, or better known as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in the country and abroad, can be implemented more effectively,” he said.
He said this after a ceremony to send off RMN’s KD Mahawangsa to Lebanon in order to resupply assets and personnel to Malaysian Battalion 850-10, which is part of the United Nations Interim Force in the country.
Yazid said that in order to strengthen operations, the navy would need at least four MRSS, with two each for the western fleet (Lumut) and the eastern fleet (Sabah).
In September 2021, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein – the defence minister at the time – had in a written reply in Parliament outlined several matters on the acquisition of new assets for the armed forces, among them that the government would procure two MRSS for the navy, expected to commence in 2024.
This is to meet the armed force’s operational needs through the enhancement of its strategic sealift capabilities between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak. – Bernama, November 30, 2022
