KUALA LUMPUR: The country's first French-made submarine, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, will arrive here tomorrow.
The prime minister class submarine will dock at Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) base in Pulau Indah, Port Klang.
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin will be present to welcome the Scorpene submarine built by French military shipyard DCNS in partnership with Spanish shipyard Navantia.
Also present will be Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, armed forces chief General Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin and Navy chief Admiral Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz Jaafar.
The submarine will leave Port Klang on Friday and sail for RMN Lumut base where it will dock on Saturday.
The Defence Ministry's Procurement Division took delivery of the submarine, named after Malaysia's first prime minister, at the French naval base in Toulon on Jan 24 this year.
The submarine set sail from Toulon for Malaysia in early August.
The Scorpene, a conventional submarine built in Cherbourg, France, can undertake a wide range of missions, including naval blockades, information gathering and landing or retrieval of commandos. The submarines can operate alone or in combination with air and sea forces.
The new generation diesel-powered Scorpene has been hailed as a benchmark in the world conventional submarine market.
No comments:
Post a Comment