Turkey's STM Defense launches TUNKU OSMAN JEWA, the last corvette for the Royal Malaysian Navy, marking a key milestone in defense cooperation.
Turkey's maritime engineering powerhouse, STM Defense Technologies Engineering and Trade Inc., has added another success to its export achievements. The last of the three corvettes built under the LMS Batch-2 (Littoral Mission Ship Batch-2) Program for the Royal Malaysian Navy, TUNKU OSMAN JEWA, was launched on August 9, 2026, at a ceremony held at Istanbul Shipyard. Thus, all three corvettes within the scope of the project have been successfully launched.
The ceremony was attended by the Sultan of Kedah, Al Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, the Sultanah of Kedah, Sultanah Maliha binti Almarhum Tengku Ariff, the Chief of the Malaysian Armed Forces, General Datuk Haji Malek Razak bin Sulaiman, Turkey's Deputy Presidents of the Defense Industry Prof. Dr. İhsan Kaya and Mustafa Murat Şeker, the Deputy Chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy, Vice Admiral Dato’ Haji Mohd Fadzli bin Mohd Mohaldin, STM General Manager Özgür Güleryüz, along with military delegations from both countries and representatives from defense industry firms.
“3 corvettes launched in 4 months”
Speaking at the ceremony, STM General Manager Özgür Güleryüz stated that they successfully realized one of the most concrete examples of the strategic cooperation between Turkey and Malaysia, and said the following:
“With this project, which is the first government-to-government (G2G) defense trade agreement between Turkey and Malaysia and our country's first corvette export to the Asia-Pacific region, we are proud to launch our third and final ship, TUNKU OSMAN JEWA, today. Thus, we have successfully launched three corvettes within just four months, marking another significant milestone in our project. With the completion of the launching phase, we are now moving on to the outfitting, system integration, and port and sea acceptance testing phases. We aim to deliver all three ships to the Royal Malaysian Navy within 2027, continuing our work with the same determination and diligence.”
TUNKU OSMAN JEWA
The ships built under the project take their names from personalities who have made significant contributions to Malaysian history and defense. The first ship is named after TUNKU LAKSAMANA ABDUL JALIL, known by the title 'Prince-Admiral'; the second ship carries the name of RAJA LAUT, who holds an important place in the maritime and regional trade history of Selangor. The third ship launched is named after General (Ret.) Tan Sri Tunku Osman Tunku Mohammad Jewa, the third Chief of Staff of Malaysia.
Source: SeaNews Türkiye
