As today is the closing of the Pakistan International Naval Exercise Aman 2009 held in Karachi in which our own KD Kedah participated, I do wonder if she will be directed to remain in the area to continue escorting our merchant ships through the treacherous Gulf of Aden. This is especially since the host navy announced their own intentions to send their warships to the Gulf soon. It is my opinion that since we have already sent the patrol ship to the region already, she might as well be berthed there for a while further where at a minimum she should wait for a convoy of our merchantmen to organise and then be shepherded through the treacherous waters before returning home. This would give more bang for our money in these lean times as the cost of sailing to and from Pakistan can be further defrayed to cover the cost protecting our shipping in the area no matter how temporary. If the cost of deployment from a friendly harbour is prohibitive, then the KD Kedah can be kept deployed at sea as her endurance at sea as a patrol vessel should allow her to just that and this would be a great opportunity to test the capabilities of the ship and crew. KD Kedah can further also conduct trials and tests of her combat systems and war intelligence centre while she is there as this was part of the reason given for her participation the naval exercise. Let's see if the KD Kedah immediately returns home or as I suspect or she will remain in the area to escort our merchantmen. In the meantime please enjoy some photos of KD Kedah leading the line of warships participating in the Aman exercise that you may not be able to find in our local media.
1 comment:
me thinks KD Kedah won't be joining the taskforce operating in Somalian waters. They still have a few thing to be sorted out before it can venture out for extended period of time. me know, me know, both Kedah and Pahang had ventured out on friendly visits to foreign ports. me thinks that is just shake downs to see how they perform under various sea conditions and patrolling in extended periods of time. but something tells me that the outcome of those goodwill visits were good, it also points out to a various of problems with both ships or else Kedah or Pahang would have been patrolling the Somalian waters earlier. Me thinks Kedah is sent to AMAN only to show support as the more capable ships are either need to patrol our seas or on dry docks.
hmmm... me wonder why Kedah design seems fatter compared to other warships especially the USCG cutter. not sexy lor :lol:
me also wonder if there are flights in the design and building of Kedah class as a result of lessons learned?
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