Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu has announced that the ministry will conduct an open tender for the maintenance contract of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN)’s submarines in 2021. The pre-qualification process would be done for two RMN’s Scorpene submarines namely the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Razak.
Mohamad stated that the selection process would encourage more competitive pricing for the maintenance of the submarines. The Scorpene submarines were bought at MYR 3.4 billion (USD 837 million) in 2002 and the vessels were jointly built by Direction des Constructions Navale (DCNS), a French defense contractor and Navantia, a Spanish submarine-building company. KD Tunku Abdul Rahman arrived in Malaysia in September 2009 and KD Tun Razak in July 2010.
Furthermore, Deputy Defense Minister Liew Chin Tong has informed the Dewan Negara (Senate) in December 2019 that the annual cost of operational and logistics support services for one submarine would be around RM100 million (USD 24 million). Liew said the ministry is not planning to add more submarines, in addition to its existing five submarines in Singapore and Indonesia, and six in Vietnam.
(Sources: Malaysiakini; MalayMail)
