The latest WIFR has a good article on the Royal Malaysian Navy's acquisition of its first submarine (no link, unfortunately). The first of two Scorpene class boats, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman (named after the Father of Malaysian Independence) arrived in Malaysia in early September after working up in France. Of particular note in the article was the discussion of the manner in which the Royal Malaysian Navy went about developing a submarine service cadre. Officers trained in several submarine schools and with a variety of navies, including the RAN, the Marine Nationale, and the Turkish Navy. Learning submarine ops from scratch is difficult, time consuming, and dangerous, and so the RMN essentially "borrowed" the experience of other navies. The Royal Malaysian Navy also undertook to learn submarine rescue ops from the USN, among others.
The purchase of the two Scorpene boats is part of a general Malaysian naval buildup and modernization. It's not immediately clear if additional boats will be ordered, but Tunku Abdul Rahman and her sister will undoubtedly provide the RMN with a domestic capacity for submarine service training, in addition to their patrol duties.
No comments:
Post a Comment