 |
| Scorpene Submarine (Image: File Photo) |
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian visited yesterday the Malaysian Submarine Force Base at Kita Kinabalu to look at the development achieved by this country’s submarine force since it was set up 11 years ago. Jean-Michel Palagos, DCI’s CEO was among the French delegation at the Naval base. Jean-Yves Le Drian was impressed and proud of the Submarine Training Centre’s development.
Since 2003, DCI-NAVFCO accompanies the RMN for the ab initio creation of a submarine force capable of operating SCORPENE type submarines. In only 4 years and with French Navy support, DCI has managed to form and train two complete submarine crews as well as a reserve crew and an embryonic staff.
DCI reinforced its collaboration with the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) in 2013 by participating in the creation and running of a training school for submariners and future submariners. The training school is installed in Kota Kinabalu base by DCI teams within the framework of this Malaysian submarine force development strategy.