STM held the keel laying ceremony for Malaysia’s future Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) Batch 2 corvettes based on Ada-class corvettes in Istanbul Shipyard.

A Malaysian delegation, including the Secretary General of MoD Lokman Hakim bin Ali and the Royal Malaysian Navy Zulhelmy bin Ithnain Chief, attended the ceremony marking the start of three corvettes.

Deputy General Manager of STM Bülent Soydal stated that the ships, based on the proven Ada-class corvette, will be delivered to the Royal Malaysian Navy by 2027.

LMS Batch 2 is Turkiye’s first corvette export to the Asia-Pacific, as well as the entry of the MİLGEM family of warships into the region. Another country from Asia-Pacific showing interest in the warship family is Thailand, which is negotiating with ASFAT.

Features of LMS Batch 2 Corvettes

LMS Batch 2 corvettes, as ships meant to operate at littoral waters, have an equipment set diverging from the Ada-class corvettes focusing on Anti-Submarine Warfare capabilities despite having a common hull.

The sensor load takes advantage of the latest developments in the Turkish defence industry, with the main search radar chosen as ASELSAN’s CENK 400-N AESA radar is significantly more capable than the SMART-S Mk2 on the Ada-class.

Turkish weaponry to be used on the corvettes includes ROKETSAN’s Atmaca anti-ship missile and ASELSAN’s SMASH 200/30 30 mm RCWS. While the anti-surface weaponry layout is similar, air defence loadout is another story.

Ada-class corvettes and subclasses use Mk49 RAM PDMS (On Ada-class) or GÖKDENİZ 100/35 CIWS placed on the aft (Others so far) for close-range defence, but LMS Batch 2 diverges from this approach radically with four K-VLS cells from ROK. Each K-VLS cell will carry four K-SAAM air defence missiles fitted with hybrid IR and RF guidance capable of reaching a range of 20 km.

Author: Kaan Azman

Editor: Özgür Ekşi