Royal Malaysian Navy Needs To Constantly Upgrade it's Capabilities

Recently, Indonesia lost a submarine, the KRI Nanggala-402.

The 44-year-old submarine was first built by German shipping company Howaldtswerkw-Deutsche Werft.

During the search and rescue (SAR) operation for the submarine, the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) also mobilised submarine rescue ship, MV Mega Bakti based in Teluk Sepanggar, Sabah.

 MV Mega Bakti which started operating in 2013 is a ship built by a Singapore company. The move demonstrates the government's commitment to extend assistance to neighboring countries and the international community in need.

The conduct of SAR operations on KRI Nanggala-402 in a short time proves the ability and availability of Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) in organizing the movement of its assets in terms of operations.

In general, the RMN is equipped with warships and patrol vessels to protect the country's vast waters. However, recent SAR operations in Indonesia showed that there are very significant weaknesses with existing assets.

MV Mega Bakti, for example, has a long-range underwater vehicle (ROV) that can operate at a maximum limit of 400 meters only and is not suitable for deep sea rescue operations.

Therefore, for the sake of national security and well-being, the government must take efforts to re-examine the capabilities of the existing RMN assets.

The incident of the Indonesian military submarine proves that the capacity of the RMN's assets needs to be streamlined and enhanced from time to time.

 DR. IZYAN MUNIRAH MOHD. ZAIDEEN

 Lecturer of the Faculty of Maritime Studies

 Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT)