Myanmar launches new FF-135 frigate, the largest ever built in its domestic yards
The King Thalun is both longer and heavier than the Kyan SIttha class. (Photo: Myanmar Navy)
The launch of the King Thalun marks a high point for shipbuilding in Myanmar.
The Myanmar Navy has launched its new FF-135 frigate – and commissioned two new corvettes – in commemoration of its 77th anniversary.
The frigate, named UMS King Thalun, dwarfed previous vessels in the Myanmar Navy’s fleet, at 135 metres in length and displacing 3,500 tons. That made it the largest vessel constructed in Myanmar’s shipyards to date.
Compared to the likes of the Aung Zeya and Kyan Sittha-class stealth frigates, the UMS King Thalun was longer and heavier by around 30 feet and 500 tons respectively, and as such was expected to take a commanding role in Myanmar’s naval fleet.
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Like those previous vessels, though, the King Thalun was entirely constructed at domestic shipyards within Myanmar. Until relatively recently, Myanmar had built up its naval defences by, for instance, commissioning vessels from South Korea (such as the LPD Moattama) or, just three years ago, from China’s Navy (in the case of the UMS Minye Kyaw Htin submarine).
While the shipbuilding was entirely domestic though, the technology fit still made use of outside equipment. Details on launch were sketchy, but it was expected that the King Thalun, like the Kyan Sittha-class frigates, would combine Russian and Chinese elements in its bridge technology and combat suite.
The Kyan Sittha class was armed with an Oto Melara 76mm Super Rapid gun, three NG-18 (H/PJ-13) 6-barrel 30mm CIWS guns, two 14.5mm Gantling guns, six turret-mounted Igla-S (SA-24) SAMs, two triple torpedo launchers for Shyena torpedoes and two RBU-1200 anti-submarine rocket launchers.
While no specific armament information was released by Myanmar on the launch of the King Thalun, its greater size and the advancement of weapons technology in the last decade suggested it would carry significant upgrades on the Kyan Sittha fit.
New capabilities also looked likely in the addition of a vertical launching system for air defence, which would be a first for the Myanmar Navy’s frigate programme. The King Thalun’s helicopter deck could host anything from uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) up to helicopters like the Chinese-made Z-9C ASW.
The launch of the King Thalun also heralded the commissioning of two anti-submarine corvettes into the Navy.
Each 63 metres long, both of those corvettes were also built at domestic yards in Myanmar.
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