Royal Malaysian Navy’s LMS Batch 2 ships get more missiles

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM) will improve its ability to fight by getting surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles for its Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) Batch 2 fleet. These missiles should be delivered next year.
The ships will get 24 surface-to-surface missiles (SSMs) from Turkey, which are worth a total of RM369.3 million.
Furthermore, 48 surface-to-air missiles (SAM) worth RM372.69mil will be sent from South Korea to the same class of ships.

After the Defense Ministry and the French company signed a Letter of Intent (LOI), the navy will also get 29 more SAM weapons worth RM504.5 million from the European defense company MBDA.

The missiles were bought through 12 contracts worth a total of RM1.13 billion that were signed at the Defense Services Asia (DSA) and National Security Asia (NATSEC) Asia 2026 shows.
The contracts were signed as part of 24 agreements worth a total of RM3.54 billion meant to improve the country’s defense readiness in light of changing security threats, according to Defense Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
He also said that the deals had eight Industrial Collaboration Program (ICP) offer letters worth about RM1.4 billion and four letters of intent (LOIs) worth more than RM1 billion.

“A lot of the purchases are for missiles and ammunition for LMS and Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) that are still being built.”
“The aim is to make sure our ships have enough combat power, especially to deal with problems in the South China Sea and protect our waters,” he told reporters after the ceremony on April 22 to sign the contract and agreement of understanding.

Because of a brief freeze on procurement processes earlier this year, Mohamed Khaled said that the total value of the agreements signed this time was lower than in previous years.
“The value recorded is less than what we usually get for contracts.” Every buying process was put on hold for two to three months at the start of the year, he said.
He also said that the ministry would stop announcing Letters of Acceptance (LOA) after LOIs were sent out. This decision was made to prevent confusion and to ensure the public did not mistakenly believe there were two separate statements regarding the same project.
On the ICP (Industry Collaboration Program), Mohamed Khaled said that the eight offer letters were given to companies that were qualified as long as they agreed to carry out knowledge transfer programs that would increase the number of locals working in the defense industry.
He also said that the ICP is in line with the National Defense Industry Policy, which aims to make the country less dependent on foreign technology by getting the public and private sectors to work together more.
Malaysia bought three LMS ships from Turkey in the past, and they should arrive in 2027.