LIMA'25: KD Lekiu, KM Tun Fatimah Remain The Pulse Of The Country's Maritime Defence
By Nur Syahidayah Mahasan
LANGKAWI, May 23 (Bernama) -- In the face of increasingly complex and challenging maritime threats to nations, the Royal Malaysian Navy's (RMN) KD Lekiu and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency's (MMEA), KM Tun Fatimah remain steadfast in sailing the seas to protect the maritime borders of the country.
Despite their different roles and specifications, these two national defence assets still share a common mission, which is to be the backbone of ensuring the security and sovereignty of the country's waters from external threats, as well as monitoring the country's waters.
KD Lekiu, with its high combat capabilities, functions as the country's primary defence fortress in the open sea while KM Tun Fatimah strengthens the enforcement of maritime laws and surveillance in coastal areas and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which extends up to 200 nautical miles from the coast according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Describing KD Lekiu as the country's number one warship, its Commanding Officer Captain Mahamad Nazer Darus described the country's warship's ability to conduct four-dimensional warfare.
"First, subsurface (underwater) warfare where we counter, repel and also search and destroy submarines. Second, surface warfare where we can engage in combat with other surface vessels.
"Thirdly, we are capable of repelling attacks from the air with anti-air missiles to destroy enemy aircraft and fourth, electronic warfare where we have electronic support measures and also electronic warfare to repel cyber attacks,' he said.
He said this during a media tour of KD Lekiu in conjunction with the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2025 (LIMA'25) at Resort World Langkawi here, which was also opened for the public starting today.
Even more amazingly, the 26-year-old KD Lekiu once sailed on a 100-day voyage from Lumut to Hawaii, then back to Lumut covering a distance of 12,730 nautical miles and carrying out various exercises including firing missiles at real ship targets.
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