Malaysia’s defense ministry signed a RM 1.02 billion (~$241 million) contract with BHIC Submarine Engineering Services for maintenance and repair work on the Royal Malaysian Navy’s two Scorpene-class attack submarines during the 2025 Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition.
According to a BHIC Submarine Engineering Services (BSES) representative that spoke with Naval News, the contract will cover maintenance and repair work on the two submarines over the next five years.
The representative said that the contract is separate from a different contract under negotiation for a major overhaul of the submarines, which they said would likely be finalized before the end of the year. While the representative would not comment on the extent of overhaul and upgrade work before the agreement was finalized, they said BSES estimated that the overhaul would take around two and a half years for each submarine, with the overhaul work to be done at its Teluk Sepanggar submarine dry dock in Sabah.
One of the submarines, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, was on display as part of the exhibition’s maritime segment. The submarine was docked at Resorts World Langkawi’s cruise ship jetty on the southwestern tip of the island, alongside other ships from various navies accessible to the public for the duration of the exhibition.
Malaysia’s Scorpene Submarines
The Royal Malaysian Navy has operated two Scorpene-class submarines, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tunku Abdul Razak since 2009, with both submarines homeported at the Teluk Sepanggar naval base in Sabah. The two submarines are also known as the Prime Minister or Perdana Menteri class of submarines as they are named after Malaysia’s first two prime ministers.
They were Malaysia’s most expensive defense procurement project at the time of the 2002 signing of a 1.2 billion euro contract with DCNS (now Naval Group), with the contract also including the transfer of the former Ouessant Agosta 70 attack submarine from the French Navy to the Royal Malaysian Navy as a training submarine.
Two more submarines are planned for purchase under the Royal Malaysian Navy’s revised 15-to-5 Transformation plan, with the revised plan published in 2024 projecting the procurement to be carried out between 2031 and 2035 should the Malaysian government fund it.
Maintenance and repair work on the submarines has been conducted by BSES and its sibling company Boustead DCNS Naval Corporation since their arrival in Malaysia. Both companies are subsidiaries of Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation, with BHIC continuing to support the Royal Malaysian Navy’s submarines after selling off its Boustead Naval Shipyard operation building the Littoral Combat Ships to the Malaysian government as part of the agreement to restart that program.
