Submarine joins naval exercise in Sabah east coast
SANDAKAN: The Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) submarine, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, has for the first time joined a training exercise held in the east coast of Sabah.
The submarine, which is one of the two Scorpene-class vessels owned by RMN based in Kota Kinabalu, joined in the training with ships from Naval Region Two (Mawilla 2) on Sunday.
It is linked to a fresh corruption probe and murdered Mongolian model and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.
The submarine has never been deployed on the east coast even though it had been based in Sabah’s waters over a decade ago.
It was reported previously that the waters were too shallow in the east coast of the state for the submarine.
The Mawilla 2 Strategic Communications Branch in a statement here yesterday said the KD Sri Johor carried out a series of exercises to test the capabilities of Mawilla 2 marine assets along with KD Tunku Abdul Rahman.
Apart from surface assets, RMN’s aerial assets such as the Fennec helicopter, also participated in the joint training for the Hi-Line Transfer evolution, the statement said.
It added that the training would indirectly improve interoperability of assets under Mawilla 2 to face any eventualities.
The exercise was also aimed at testing the level of alertness and preparedness of the crew in the face of any threats and emergencies, as well as enhancing cooperation between the submarine and other RMN assets in the region.
According to the statement, the presence of the submarine has had a positive impact on the maritime community in eastern Sabah, especially in terms the confidence in RMN’s credibility to safeguard the waters of the Eastern Sabah Security Zone which is vulnerable to threats such as cross-border and sea crimes.