Kota Kinabalu: The Royal Malaysian Navy Eastern Fleet Command hopes the Government will prioritise new acquisitions and swiftly upgrade the capabilities of military assets in the 2023 Budget.
The Eastern Fleet Command Headquarters in a statement, here, Tuesday said increasing the defence budget is essential, particularly in order to enhance the combat capabilities of the navy’s ageing and rapidly becoming obsolete combat equipment.
The Eastern Fleet Command Headquarters strongly agrees with Chief of Navy Admiral Tan Sri Mohd Reza Mohd Sany who suggested that the Government is devoted to raising the 2023 Budget to 1.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.
The issue of asset obsolescence is the main challenge faced by the navy in trying to regulate the movement of its assets to the maximum. With the current changing maritime threat landscape and major power intervention in the South China Sea, the navy is in dire need of combat-capable assets.
For now, the combat capability of naval assets is at a critical level.
“In fact, the assets under the Eastern Fleet only consist of the Ronda Flotilla which is not equipped with combat capabilities such as weapon systems, surveillance radars and trackers and missiles,” read the statement.
Therefore, the acquisition of new assets such as Littoral Combat Ship and Littoral Mission Ship second batch is very critical for the navy to carry out the duties and trusts it is responsible for.
The Eastern Fleet Command Headquarters believes that this issue of obsolescence will not occur if the Government provides adequate defence provisions every year.
The proposed allocation of 1.5 per cent of the country’s GDP specifically for defence is not something that is impossible to implement if the Government is really serious about the issue of national security and sovereignty.
The defence budget should be likened to buying an insurance policy for national security. National security will face a high risk if the Government only buys the minimum policy.
The effect will be more detrimental to the Government when the country faces a security crisis
The Eastern Fleet Command Headquarters will remain focused on supporting the navy’s mission to defend sovereignty and protect the nation’s maritime interests.
Even though the existing assets are not at their best, the Eastern Fleet Command will remain committed and ready as much as possible to carry out the duties and responsibilities entrusted to them as much as possible.
The promise of the navy was expressed through the 27/2022 Kerismas Exercise that is taking place in the South China Sea.
At this moment, a total of 23 assets from the Eastern and Western Fleets are at the naval base in Kota Kinabalu to undergo this annual intra-naval exercise.
This annual exercise will test the level of readiness of the naval assets and the efficiency of the ship’s crew in implementing each maritime operation procedure as well as evaluate the support system of the navy’s logistics section.
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