The Royal Malaysian Navy’s fourth Keris-class littoral mission ship, KD Rencong . The country has allocated MYR2.4 billion to procure three more follow-on vessels to this programme. (Royal Malaysian Navy)

The Malaysian government has allocated a budget of MYR2.4 billion (USD507 million) to procure three more follow-on vessels to the country’s Keris-class littoral mission ship (LMS).

This allocation was announced by the country’s prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, in his parliamentary address on 13 October. Anwar, who is also the country’s finance minister, disclosed the allocation as part of his tabling of the country’s proposed national budget for 2024.

The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) presently operates a class of four patrol vessel-like Keris-class LMSs, all of which were built by China’s Wuchang Shipbuilding. The first-of-class KD Keris was commissioned in January 2020.

It has an overall length of 68.8 m, an overall beam of 9 m, and a hull draught of 2.8 m, and displaces about 700 tonnes at full load. The vessel can attain a top speed of 22 kt and a standard range of about 2,000 n mile (3,704 km) at 15 kt.