STM (Defense Technologies Engineering and Trade Co AS), Türkiye’s leading company in the naval field, launched the first of three LMS Batch 2 corvettes for the Royal Malaysian Navy, based on the MİLGEM Ada-class design, on May 24, at the Istanbul Shipyard.
Attending the event were Her Majesty Raja Zarith Sofiah, Queen of Malaysia, Malaysian Minister of National Defence Dato’ Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Deputy Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Türkiye Musa Heybetli, and Deputy Secretary of Turkish Defence Industries and Chairman of the Board of STM Prof. Dr. İhsan Kaya.
During the ceremony, the lead corvette was named Tunku
Laksamana Abdul Jalil, paying tribute to the Sultan and Queen’s fourth son, who
passed away in 2015. Following the naming, the traditional bottle-breaking
ritual was observed with a bottle of Zamzam water smashed against the vessel’s
bow just before it met the water.
Speaking at the ceremony, STM General Manager Özgür Güleryüz said that following the signing of the contract in 2024, the steel cutting and keel laying phases of Tunku Laksamana Abdul Jalil were completed in record time. Güleryüz also said that all phases of the vessel, from design to delivery, are being closely monitored, and that STM aims to deliver the other two ships to Malaysia just as quickly as the first one. According to STM’s delivery schedule, the second vessel is planned to be launched in June this year and the third in August, with all three corvettes scheduled for delivery to the Royal Malaysian Navy by 2027.
The Malaysian ships represent a modified specification variant of the Ada-class corvettes currently in service with the Turkish Navy, differing in terms of structure and equipment. Based on specifications released by STM, the vessels will have a total length of 99.56 meters, a maximum width of 14.42 meters, a draft of 3.94 meters and a displacement of approximately 2500 tons. Powered by four diesel engines in a combined diesel and diesel (CODAD) configuration and propelled by two controllable propellers, they will have a maximum speed of 26 knots, a cruising speed of 14 knots, and a range of more than 4000 nautical miles. Designed to fully support 111 personnel, including officers, crew and guests, these corvettes will also feature a hangar with HELO Deck for medium-sized helicopters and refueling facilities.
To effectively meet and neutralize threats, the corvettes are
outfitted with a 76 mm main gun, two sets of four surface-to-surface missile
(SSM) launchers, a second 30mm gun, two sets of surface-to-air missile (SAM)
launchers with a total of 16 missiles and a decoy launcher system (DLS) with
two launchers. Among the Sensor, Navigation and Communication packages to be
included on the ship are a Combat Management System (CMS), a 3D surveillance
radar with helicopter control capability, an IFF system integrated with the 3D
radar, a fire control radar with an EO package, and a weapon fire control
system embedded in the CMS, two target designation binoculars (TDS), a C-ESM
system, an R-ESM system (2-18 GHz) with ELINT capabilities, a tactical data
link system (LINK-Y), two fiber optic INS, two X-band navigation radars, a wind
and meteorological system, WAIS, three WECDIS, two GNSS, a voyage data recorder
and an echosounder.