New Facility at KK Naval Base
August 11, 2016


The hangar where KD Tunku Abdul Rahman undergoing its refit. Picture taken in January, 2016. TLDM picture

SHAH ALAM:A Magnetic Ranging and Deperming Facility will be built at the Kota Kinabalu naval base in Teluk Sepanggar, Sabah. The MRDF contract was awarded to DCNS of France, the JV builder/maintainer of RMN submarines and the sub-contractor for the LCS.

The MRDF will provide countermeasures for RMN ships and submarines against magnetic mines. It will also reduce the chance of RMN submarines being detected using magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) equipment. A more detail explanation from Wikipedia.

“A sea-going metal-hulled ship or submarine, by its very nature, develops a magnetic signature as it travels, due to a magneto-mechanical interaction with Earth’s magnetic field. It also picks up the magnetic orientation of the earth’s magnetic field where it is built. This signature can be exploited by magnetic mines or facilitate the detection of a submarine by ships or aircraft with magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) equipment. Navies use the deperming procedure, in conjunction with degaussing, as a countermeasure against this.”

The contract with DCNS was announced in a press release issued by TLDM on its website on Aug 9. It did not state the cost of the contract or when it was signed. I am assuming that the contract is an offset obligation for the Perdana Menteri-class refit program, first announced in Nov 15, 2015.

According to the RMN release, the new facility will be built at Pulau Udar, located inside the naval base. The MRDF according to the release will replacing the degaussing facility currently located at the Lumut Naval base. The facility at Lumut, is only able to conduct degaussing for ships.

Meanwhile, the refit for KD TAR is continuing. As the contract call for the refit to be completed in 18 months, the submarine is expected to be ready for deployment late next year.

— Malaysian Defence

http://www.malaysiandefence.com/new-...kk-naval-base/
http://www.navy.mil.my/index.php/inf...kemudahan-mrdf