Malaysia accepts first MEKO-class corvette

All depends what they’re used for, many of the more capable corvettes are basically utilised in an OPV role for which they’re way, way too expensive, and despite an impressive looking weapons and sensor suite on paper they are not equivalent to a cut price frigate, often their true capabilities are nothing like the brochure claims due to problems with stability, accomodation and space, it’s quite normal with some of these vessels that they can carry a useful ASuW or ASW or AA weapons fit but not all together in spite of listing a most impressive aresnal on paper. The Israeli Sa’ar design is a good example, when new they were held up as a wonderful design carrying a equal punch to much bigger frigates and destroyers in other navies at a fraction of the cost and size, yet their stability is marginal and in service they’ve not managed to match any of the big claims made for the design when new. There is almost no growth potential, stability tends to be marginal and the costs really aren’t that much less than a larger more capable frigate if fully specced up given that a massive part of the costs of a warship are the command and control systems, sensor suite and weapons, fit equivalent radar, c&c and fighting capability to a corvette as a frigate and you’re getting a platform with a lot less growth potential, much less capability due to lower endurance and habitability and probably poorer rough weather operational capability. If the vessels are intended for inshore/near coastal work then it is probably better to buy a much smaller FAC type if intended to guard against enemy combatants, or a good OPV is intended for Coastguard style duties. If intended for deep sea ops then the disadvantages mean a frigate makes a lot more sense, even financially.

Agree. Good example of better balanced design is the Italian Minerva class corvette. It’s an ASW escort with Otomat SSMs and Aspide SAMs. Design variants included one which didn’t have the Aspide but a helicopter deck and hangar instead. NUMC is also a good example, if somewhat lightly armed.

All depends what they’re used for, many of the more capable corvettes are basically utilised in an OPV role for which they’re way, way too expensive, and despite an impressive looking weapons and sensor suite on paper they are not equivalent to a cut price frigate, often their true capabilities are nothing like the brochure claims due to problems with stability, accomodation and space, it’s quite normal with some of these vessels that they can carry a useful ASuW or ASW or AA weapons fit but not all together in spite of listing a most impressive aresnal on paper. The Israeli Sa’ar design is a good example, when new they were held up as a wonderful design carrying a equal punch to much bigger frigates and destroyers in other navies at a fraction of the cost and size, yet their stability is marginal and in service they’ve not managed to match any of the big claims made for the design when new. There is almost no growth potential, stability tends to be marginal and the costs really aren’t that much less than a larger more capable frigate if fully specced up given that a massive part of the costs of a warship are the command and control systems, sensor suite and weapons, fit equivalent radar, c&c and fighting capability to a corvette as a frigate and you’re getting a platform with a lot less growth potential, much less capability due to lower endurance and habitability and probably poorer rough weather operational capability. If the vessels are intended for inshore/near coastal work then it is probably better to buy a much smaller FAC type if intended to guard against enemy combatants, or a good OPV is intended for Coastguard style duties. If intended for deep sea ops then the disadvantages mean a frigate makes a lot more sense, even financially.

MEKO 100RMN design

The RMN PV marks the first sale for the Blohm + Voss MEKO 100 line, although the MEKO pedigree itself is long established through the export of frigate variants to the navies of Argentina, Australia, Greece, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Turkey and, most recently, South Africa (over half have been the subject of licence agreements for in-country build). The German Navy has also adopted the main elements of the MEKO concept in its four F 123 frigates, three new F 124 air-defence ships and the planned K 130 corvettes.

The MEKO concept embraces a flexible methodology for the installation of weapon, electronic and major ship’s service equipment in the form of standardised modules and common interfaces. The modules – in the form of containers, pallets or grid pallets – accommodate weapons and/or electronic systems and their subsystems. As well as interfaces to the ship’s databus, the containerised modules also have standardised connections for ship’s services (such as power and air conditioning/ventilation).

According to Blohm + Voss, this modular outfitting technique allows for the construction of the ship platform concurrent with the assembly and testing of payload modules, thereby reducing build time and cost. The company also claims that the MEKO concept significantly reduces costs associated with maintenance and modernisation.

Displacing 1,650 tonnes at full load, the MEKO 100RMN PV design is 91.1m in length (82.8m at the waterline). Propulsion is to be provided by two Caterpillar 3616 DITA diesels, rated at 5,450kW, driving two Kamewa Ulstein (part of Rolls-Royce) Type 72XF5/5 controllable pitch propellers. The twin hollow bore shaftlines are also part of the Rolls-Royce scope of supply.

Auxiliary power will come from four Caterpillar 3412 DITA diesels rated at 537kW. Both the main engine and generator sets are designed to meet Germanischer Lloyd classification rules, and meet specific RMN standards for structure-borne noise and shock performance. Assembly of the Caterpillar 3616 main diesels will be undertaken in-country by Tractors Malaysia Power Systems Division.

CAE Marine Systems is supplying the Ship Control and Monitoring system. It includes condition-based vibration and health monitoring functions for various on board machinery sets, plus a comprehensive onboard training application.

Noske-Kaeser is providing air conditioning and ventilation systems. The company is also supplying special firefighting systems to protect the machinery spaces, helicopter hangar, helicopter-pump room and helicopter refuelling room.

Combat system

The baseline combat system is relatively modest, being configured for low-intensity surveillance and policing duties in the EEZ. However, the combat system architecture is scaleable to accommodate growth, and the ship platform itself has space and weight margins for various ‘fitted-for-but-not-with’ equipment (notably an inner-layer missile system and a surface-to-surface guided weapon system).

At the hub of the combat system is the STN Atlas Elektronik COSYS 110-M1 combat management and fire control system, the subject of a US$100 million contract awarded by PSC-NDSB in February 1999. Based around a dual FDDI local area network (LAN), the baseline COSYS 110-M1 system will feature six BM-2000C multifunction consoles for operator interaction and tactical display. STN Atlas Elektronik’s scope of supply also includes the 9600M navigation radar. The company is also taking responsibility for overall combat system integration.

PSC-NDSB and STN Atlas Elektronik established a joint venture, PSC-STN Atlas Elektronik (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, as local technology partner for the production of the combat management and fire control system. Malaysian engineers from the company are undergoing high level training on the systems in order that they will be able to provide in-service support and upgrades. STN Atlas will continue to provide in-country support when the ships are handed over to the RMN.

Oerlikon Contraves AG (which shares Rheinmetall DeTec parentage with STN Atlas Elektronik) is supplying the TMX and TMEO fire control system as part of the overall COSYS 110-M1 system. Installation, setting-to-work and trials will be undertaken by staff from locally based Contraves Advanced Devices Sdn Bhd.

The TMX director, an upgraded and modernised derivative of the tracker sub-system of the Seaguard close-in weapon system, uses a Ku-band radar and a TV tracking camera. The mounting can also accept a thermal imager and an eye-safe laser rangefinder.

Fitted aft, the TMEO is a lightweight electro-optical director equipped with a TV, thermal imager and eye-safe laser rangefinder. It passively tracks air and surface targets and provides target data for the formulation of a gunfire control solution. The electro-optical sensors mounted on the TMEO can also be employed for routine surveillance.

In addition, PSC-STN Atlas Elektronik (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd is establishing a new simulation centre near to the Lumut shipyard. This will house a generic bridge simulator and engine room simulator, and a command-and-control system simulator designed specifically for the new PVs. The simulators will become fully operational before the first vessel is commissioned and will be used for developing operational software, risk management and systems integration ‘trouble shooting’.

Rohde & Schwarz is providing the Integrated Communications System for the PV, encompassing the supply of HF, UHF and VHF radios (for voice and data), antennas, high-speed modems, message processing and LAN infrastructure. Sapura Technologies Sdn Bhd is the local partner for systems integration, switch development, training and long-term logistic support.

EADS Systems Defence & Electronics is supplying the principal above-water sensor in the shape of the TRS-3D/16ES G-band multimode radar. A contract award on the electronic support measures (ESM) fit is pending, but reliable sources indicate that the Thales Sensors’ 2-18GHz Sceptre X/Sealion ESM has been selected for the PV programme.

For obstacle and mine avoidance, L-3 ELAC Nautik is supplying the proprietary NDS 3060 dual-frequency (30kHz and 70kHz) active/passive sonar system. A multifunction sonar offering 3600 low frequency coverage and a high-resolution, three-dimensional high-frequency mode, the NDS 3060 effectively functions as a subsurface navigation sensor.

The RMN PV navigation system is based around differential GPS and the PL41 Mk 4 Mod 1 ring laser gyro-based inertial navigation system (supplied by LITEF). Lambrecht is supplying a full meteorological sensor suite.

Armament selected for the PV in its initial configuration comprises an Otobreda 76/62 Super Rapid gun, an Otobreda single 30mm FSAF gun (using a Mauser cannon) and two 0.5in machine guns. Provision exists for the retrofit of a 21-round Mk 49 Guided Missile Launch System (for the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile) in front of the bridge and MM40 Block 2 Exocet anti-ship missiles amidships.

For soft-kill defence, Sippican is supplying the ALEX decoy control and launching system. The associated six-barrel Mk 137 decoy launchers (firing chaff and infrared decoy rounds) will be sited amidships on either beam.

The hangar and flight deck aft provide for the operation and support of a medium helicopter up to S-70-size. Six AgustaWestland Super Lynx 300 helicopters are on order for the RMN; the service is also receiving six Eurocopter AS 555 Fennec helicopters as a stop-gap measure to bridge the gap between the arrival of the Super Lynx (deliveries start in 2003) and the retirement of the obsolete Westland Wasp.

Indal Technologies is to provide its Aircraft Ship Integrated Secure and Traverse system for helicopter entrapment and deck handling system. Alfons Haar is supplying the helicopter-refuelling equipment.

Main characteristics ship platform:
Length, overall: 91.10 m
Beam, overall: 12.85 m
Depth: 6.80 m
Design draught: 3.40
Design displacement: approx. 1,650 t

Yup, does appear to be Exocet

Wanshan: may well be, I had heard Exocet, but that may be wrong. The Lekiu class do use Exocet though, so I would not be at all surprised to see them fitted for but not with Exocet. Certainly according to the Naval Technology site, it is Exocet on both Kedah and Lekiu.

Turbinia: these corvettes are quite well armed, they have a 76mm gun, are fitted for Exocet SSMs, and certainly were supposed to be armed with the RIM-116 RAM, so basically, they are quite well equipped. The problem is that there is little visible difference between a large OPV and a light frigate/corvette, but there is a very major difference in reality – an OPV is fitted with little in the way of sensors, and very little armament, other than a gun. In contrast, a light frigate like the Kedah class, is fitted with radars, guns and missiles – they carry half the armament of a large frigate, i.e. either ASuW or ASW, not normally both simultaneously.

They make a lot of sense for some nations, since they are often a lot cheaper than a large frigate, and since they are simpler, can often be built in domestic shipyards, where a more complex vessel would need to be built elsewhere.

Exocet MM40? I thought the were FFBNW 2×2 Harpoon!

Turbinia: these corvettes are quite well armed, they have a 76mm gun, are fitted for Exocet SSMs, and certainly were supposed to be armed with the RIM-116 RAM, so basically, they are quite well equipped. The problem is that there is little visible difference between a large OPV and a light frigate/corvette, but there is a very major difference in reality – an OPV is fitted with little in the way of sensors, and very little armament, other than a gun. In contrast, a light frigate like the Kedah class, is fitted with radars, guns and missiles – they carry half the armament of a large frigate, i.e. either ASuW or ASW, not normally both simultaneously.

They make a lot of sense for some nations, since they are often a lot cheaper than a large frigate, and since they are simpler, can often be built in domestic shipyards, where a more complex vessel would need to be built elsewhere.

I’m not sure of the point of some of these corvette type vessels, they’re not really up to being used as a cheap alternative to frigates, and are a lot more expensive than buying a large sea going OPV with a helideck, you don’t need a lot of the equipment they carry for law enforcement and policiing the EEZ and they’re not powerful enough to be used against large warships. To me it’d make a lot more sense to just buy largish OPV’s and say they’re OPV’s rather than pretend they’re baby frigates or whatever. There are some genuinely powerful corvette’s out there, like the Brunei Nakhoda Ragam design but they’re hardly cheap and even with these powerful vessels you could argue that for the cost difference they may as well have gone for a larger frigate.

cool thanks for the pics

The second ship Pahang

Still not ready ? :confused:
The first customer of a COSYS combat system for above water.
It seems that gun integration is much harder than torpedo integration. 😮

On 3 April 2006:

The remaining trials are expected to be completed before June this year

On 9 December 2005:

will conduct the cannon trial in the near future

The first vessel namely Kapal Kedah will be delivered after the trial of the main cannon and the 30mm cannon scheduled for next year

Source: Najib during Lima 2005

The second ship Pahang end of 2005 near Langkawi:

Malaysia has Meko 100, not MEKO A100. THESE ARE DIFFERENT SHIPS!

MEKO 100-class corvette (really and uparmed OPV)

http://212.72.173.53/de/page.php?page_id=PG-92

MEKO A100-class corvette (stealthier, more modern “real” warship)

http://212.72.173.53/de/page.php?page_id=PG-76
http://212.72.173.53/de/page.php?page_id=PG-77

Any pictures of it?