Malaysia: State of Submarine Forces in ASEAN 2023 – 4

The fourth ASEAN country submarine force in my series concerns Malaysia.

2 in commission, 2 planned

 

2 Prime Minister-class (Scorpenes)

Ordered 2002

Delivered by 2009

Cost $1.24 Billion (including an Agosta-70 for initial training)

Scorpene KD Tunku Abdul Rahman image courtesy: www.malaysiandefence.com
---

While Malaysia’s two Perdana Menteri (Prime Minister) class submarines appear frequently in the news, it has very little to do with their service history in the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN). Rather, news swirls around the corruption that occurred during the submarine bid, involving a former Malaysian Prime Minister (who was the Defense Minister who sealed the deal). He is now in jail for: rampant kleptocracy; some Thales/Naval Group connections; and, the death of a Mongolian interpreter/model/escort, who was shot twice and her remains destroyed by explosives.

 

The two submarines, named after the first and second Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tunku Abdul Razak, were commissioned into RMN service in 2010 and are based at Sepanggar naval base in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The Malaysian state of Sabah, located on the northern portion of Borneo island, has some amicable territorial disputes with Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Malaysia’s South China sea possessions that are claimed by China with the Nine-Dash-Line policy.

 

Subject to many rumours and conjecture, an early manufacturing defect when Malaysia’s Scorpenes first entered service did not add to Malaysian public confidence. Now both submarines are operational and by 2019 had logged a total of 11,600 hours submerged. A recent eighteen-month refit included the installation of a new communication feature on the fin/sail, an Alesamar Buoyant Wire Antenna. 

 

Malaysia has many plans to modernize its armed forces under the 15-to-5 transformation program, in which the RMN would have four submarines by 2050. But Malaysia’s US$350 billion national debt, exceeding 80% of annual GDP, remains an obstacle.

 

In Feburary 2023, the Malaysian Defense Ministry unveiled a long-term plan to acquire two additional submarines from 2031 to 2040.

 

Malaysia actually purchase three submarines in 2002 – the 2 Scorpenes and the ex-French Navy Agosta-70 class Ouessant (S623) transferred to the RMN in 2005 to 2009 as a training vessel, operating in Brest, France, before being shipped over to Malaysia in 2011 to become a submarine museum.

Shawn Chung

June 5, 2023