Keris-class littoral mission ship


The Keris class are a class of large patrol vessels of the Royal Malaysian Navy with a length of and displacing 780 tons. A total of 18 ships are planned. As of 2018, four ships have been funded by the Malaysian government.

Development

The ships will be built by Malaysian and Chinese companies under the joint development agreement. Malaysia and China agreed to jointly develop a littoral mission ship and, two ships will be built in China by China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Company, the rest will be built in Malaysia by local company Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation. The first ship was to be delivered to the Royal Malaysian Navy by 2019, the second and third by 2020 and the fourth by 2021.

Program revised

The Littoral Mission Ship acquisition program was revised in early 2019 to reduce the procurement costs and shorten the delivery process. Through this new contract all four ships will be built by China from the original contract, which was initially be two vessels built by China and the rest built by Malaysia.

Description

All ships are planned to be armed with various weapons according to the role, such as a main gun, missile and torpedo launchers. The ships will be able carry up to three standard ISO containers for mission modules including mine warfare, hydrography and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance duties, but it is not known where the mission modules will be sourced from.

Improved design

Revolutionary Littoral Mission Ship

BHIC revealed a newer design of the Littoral Mission Ship in Defence Service Asia 2018 named Revolutionary Littoral Mission Ship. The design will be more than in length and will incorporate new capabilities to fulfill the Royal Malaysian Navy's requirements. It will have low radar cross section where BHIC has already improved their stealth design and the addition of a flight deck to accommodate a medium-sized helicopter. This new design will be offered by BHIC to the Royal Malaysian Navy for the next batch after all the four ships of the initial design were jointly constructed by Malaysian and Chinese companies. A total of 18 ships of this class are planned to be ordered by the Royal Malaysian Navy.

Ships