Malaysia commissions third Keris-class Littoral Mission Ship

The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) has commissioned its third Keris-class Littoral Mission Ship (LMS).

The vessel has been named KD Badik with pennant number 113. It was commissioned on 22 October at the RMN's base near Kota Kinabalu, the service said via a media release the same day.

Badik is one of four LMSs signed under a contract originally worth MYR1.17 billion (USD280 million) that was inked between the Malaysian government and the trading subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation in April 2017.

The contract was subsequently revised down to MYR1.05 billion after eliminating the need for at least two ships to be built in Malaysia as stipulated in the original contract. The LMS programme is Malaysia's first naval ship contract with China.

China's Wuchuan Shuangliu Manufacture Base began work on Badik in September 2019, and the vessel was subsequently launched in October 2020. It was handed over to the Malaysian government on 14 September 2021, and the vessel began its journey home towards Kota Kinabalu four days later.

The LMS has an overall length of 68.8 m, a beam of 9 m, a hull draught of 2.8 m, and displaces approximately 700 tonnes at full load. It can attain a top speed of 22 kt, with a standard range of about 2,000 n miles at 15 kt.

The vessel can be armed with either a 20 mm or 30 mm naval gun in a remote-controlled weapon station turret as its primary weapon. It can also accommodate two 12.7 mm machine guns on the deck area behind the vessel's bridge.

Like its sister ships, Badik