SINGAPORE: The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) is exploring innovative ways to be more cost-effective in managing its capabilities over the next few years.
Navy chief Admiral Datuk Seri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin said yesterday among the ideas that have been mooted is reducing the 15 classes of ships to only five.
“Our fleet comprises many classes of ships from different nations and a lot of them are aging.
“So, we are looking into ways to manage it by adopting this idea. We want to suggest this to the government, where we ‘transform’ the fleet by bringing it down to five classes.
“By reducing 15 classes to five, we will not have many types of vessels to maintain, especially those from different countries,” he told the New Straits Times at the Singapore Airshow 2016. Kamarulzaman said this was a process of consolidation and prioritising RMN’s requirements.
He said the navy would look into optimising operational expenditures as development budget was scarce.
Kamarulzaman said creating such programmes required creativity, innovation and bold moves to save money, stating that all corruption and bribery cases involving naval officers and projects in the past did not help.
“To save money and be more cost-effective, corruption and bribery needs to stop. “Also, discontinuing the use of old ships as they are costly and difficult to maintain.
These ships are old, what can you do?” Kamarulzaman said the navy was looking into reducing the outflow of funds by collaborating with the local defence industry.
However, he stressed that both the government and stakeholders would only consider this once they were assured that local industry players were on par with foreign competitors.
“This idea is still in the conceptual stage, but we hope that it happens because the aim is to achieve high cost savings by phasing out old ships.
The savings can be used to fund new programmes.” Kamarulzaman was here to attend the air show and an introductory visit after taking over as RMN chief in November.
He said although the event was air transportation, the latest machinery and products of naval aviation were also showcased here.
“My focus here is on innovation and high-end technology because with the current geopolitical situation, we need to look into areas of innovation, not only in terms of capabilities, but also cost-cutting and savings.”
When asked if Malaysia would purchase anything for its naval fleet, he said the budget was not there, but it was important for the navy to keep abreast of the latest equipment.
“It is not only that we need to know what is the latest capabilities in place.
“More importantly, we have to exchange ideas with our counterparts to enhance our cooperation with one another.
“This is a great opportunity for me to network, where I get to meet key stakeholders of our industry, especially those in Southeast Asia.”-nst
