Free Republic

Last week, the Malaysian submarine programme, which received much attention during the past months, suffered a temporary setback as Malaysian Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had to announce that the country’s first Scorpene-class submarine, delivered in September 2009, was unfit for diving. Originally scheduled for tropical water trials, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, a diesel-electric attack submarine named after the country's first Prime Minister, was forced to remain on the wharf longer than expected. According to the Minister, “the defects are still covered by warranty, so the supplier and contractor are repairing them.” Since then, the technical problem has been repaired...

Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Chief Admiral Abdul Aziz Jaafar has confirmed that the nation's first submarine, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, was experiencing a mechanical fault which prevented it from submerging. He said the fault was detected on Jan 17, following maintenance works conducted at the RMN base in Teluk Sepanggar, Sabah. "The damage involves a part that channels water pressure movement which caused the submarine's failure to launch underwater," he told reporters after a ceremony where appointment letters were presented to members of the National Service Training Council here Thursday. Abdul Aziz was commenting on a local English daily on...

Malaysia's first submarine, a European-made Scorpene delivered last September, has developed problems that make it unfit for diving, the defence minister said Thursday. The KD Tunku Abdul Rahman sailed into a grand reception last year as the first of two commissioned from French contractor DCNS and Spain's Navantia for a total of 3.4 billion ringgit (961 million dollars). Named after the country's first prime minister, it was hailed as an important acquisition despite opposition allegations of corruption in the deal. "The submarine can still dive but when we detected the defects, we were advised that it should not dive," Defence...