Admiral denies sub has problems diving

 

PETALING JAYA: The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) has refuted claims the country's first submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman (KD TAR) has problems diving.
In a letter dated July 8, RMN Admiral (Laksmana Madya) Datuk Mohammed Noordin Ali denied The Malay Mail report on Friday "No dive for sub.. yet again."

Noordin wrote: "The facts in the article was not true and it did not mention the true status of the submarine at current time. As a submarine operating nation, the security and strategic asset capability of the country should always be a priority.

"The RMN is also concerned by the publication of information on national assets in regard its strategic asset readiness as there are parties who can manipulate the issue and use it for their own interests. Generally, no country will publicise theit strategic asset readiness to the public."

Noordin also wrote: "We appreciate and value The Malay Mail's interest in publicising all matters regarding the RMN as the exposure will bring the duties of the navy closer to the people and at the same time boosting the image of the RMN and the Malaysian military in general."

Meanwhile, a local English newspaper quoted RMN chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar as confirming the KD TAR did encounter some defects and shortcomings - but at no time did any of these defects endanger the crew or submarine to the extent of rendering it unable to dive.

He reportedly said: "The RMN had conducted rigorous safety inspection, appraisal and verification process, similar or even more stringent to that of aircraft safety processes, to certify a submarine 'safe-to-dive' before it was allowed to embark on any mission."

"The KD TAR has in fact been operational, a fact that the armed forces chief (General Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin) can attest to when he dived with the submarine during her operations in the South China Sea on March 5-8."

Aziz had also reportedly said, prior to arriving safely in Kota Kinabalu on Sept 17 last year, KD TAR had sailed approximately 8,300 nautical miles with 31 days submerged out of the 43 days spent at sea.

He added any submarine will have to undergo compulsory scheduled maintenance after a specified period of operations, similar to any aircraft. Aziz explained: "These scheduled maintenance periods have been planned in advance to fit into the operational cycle of the submarines. The KD TAR has undergone, as scheduled, several of those maintenance periods since returning to Malaysia.

"Thus, the news report in February that KD TAR suffered a technical defect which prevented it from diving for three months is untrue as the KD TAR had in fact been undergoing its scheduled maintenance period during that period."

"A submarine is constantly subjected to, and operates in, an extremely hostile and harsh environment which necessitates constant monitoring, maintenance and rectification of the systems and equipment onboard.

"Inadvertently, as in any submarine in the world, some equipment or systems can and will fail or be degraded in performance.

"The KD TAR did encounter some defects and shortcomings but at no time did any of these defects endanger the crew or submarine to the extent of rendering it unable to dive, as claimed by the news reports."

The RMN, Aziz added, also viewed very seriously the fact "defence industry sources" had divulged - albeit erroneously - information which were highly classified to the media.

"The RMN will initiate a thorough investigation to identify these sources, as these irresponsible elements can also be divulging information to other unauthorised parties," he said, adding the Official Secrets Act could be invoked on the culprits.

Last week in an article dated 7 July, The Malay Mail reported it was informed by defence industry sources unspecified problems were detected after the submarine completed its tropical water trials last month. A routine maintenance check later supposedly revealed the extent of these problems.