Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) Sdn Bhd is building the 3,000 ton LCSs under a MYR9 Billion (US$2.1 Billion) contract awarded to BNS in July 2014. The first ship of the class, Maharaja Lela, was launched in August 2017. The LCS is based on Naval Group’s Gowind 2500 Class corvette design. 

The contract, which was signed at the Defense Services Asia 2018 (DSA 2018) exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, is a follow-on to the agreement announced 9 April 2015 for NSM shipboard equipment, said the company in a statement. The NSM will be deck mounted and integrated to the SETIS Combat Management System (CMS) provided by Naval Group.

“This contract provides the Royal Malaysian Navy with an important surface-to-surface-missile capability and confirms NSM’s very strong position in the international market. NSM is currently chosen by Norway, Poland, Germany and Malaysia”, says Eirik Lie, President of Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace AS.

Featuring the IIR seeker and inertial/GPS navigation the NSM is a 3.96m long missile able to strike both sea and land targets at a distance of around 100 nautical miles. The sub-sonic missile weighs 407kg and has a combined blast and fragmentation warhead weighing 120kg. The NSM is capable of reaching high subsonic speeds and can approach its targets in sea skim mode.