Teluk Sepanggar Naval Base To Get Advanced Air Defence System - Hishamuddin
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- Published on Sunday, 25 January 2015 18:27
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said the move was in line with rapid technological developments and the needs of TLDM to handle the current scenario in South China Sea and eastern Sabah waters.
"In this context, it is aimed at ensuring our base is safe. Whatever the defence system, it will be determined later," he told reporters after visiting and inspecting the development of the Kota Kinabalu TLDM base in Teluk Sepanggar here, today.
He said the plan was one of the efforts to upgrade the base comprehensively against any threats, especially in the waters of the state.
However, he said any upgrade and additional national defence assets would depend on the country's economic capability, political situation and potential threats.
Apart from that, Hishammuddin said the Scorpene submarine refit infrastructure under construction at the base was 12 per cent completed and according to schedule.
He said the infrastructure, encompassing the construction of three main workshops for the maintenance of submarine equipment and storage, was expected to reduce the cost of maintenance of the country's two submarines, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Razak.
"There will be periodic maintenance to ensure the submarines operate to the maximum duration of 35 years, which will be carried out by the government with the cooperation of Boustead DCNS Naval Corporation Sdn Bhd," he said.
The Kota Kinabalu TLDM base, built in 2001 comprises the Naval Region II headquarters and the submarine base headquarters and enjoys close cooperation with Brunei and the Philippines through annual exercises.
The base also serves a port of call for for several foreign ships from the United States, Australia, Brunei, France, Japan, Singapore and India.
Hishamuddin today concluded his three-day working visit to Sabah to look into the preparedness of security forces especially in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone).
- BERNAMA
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