KOTA KINABALU: TIES between Malaysia and France are significant, says French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, adding he also has high hopes for future operations involving both nations.
This was conveyed to Navy Chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar after a meeting with the French minister and his delegates at the Sepanggar Naval Base here yesterday.
Le Drian was here to attend a closed-door meeting on developing cooperation between the Malaysian and French navies.
Abdul Aziz said the capabilities of Malaysia’s submarine force was lauded by Le Drian and the French Navy’s Chief of Staff, Admiral Bernard Rogel.
He said Le Drian gave his assurances for further collaboration between the two nations in terms of rendering assistance, training and other support in relevant fields.
“In my recent visit to the Euronaval exhibition in France, the French Navy chief told me: ‘Admiral, you must be very proud of your submarine force’.
“He said he had yet to see any other nation’s submarine force progress as much as Malaysia has in a span of 10 years.”
Abdul Aziz said following its establishment in 2003, the Malaysian submarine force was almost at a par with the French Navy.
He added that a recent successful exercise underscored the capability of the Scorpene submarines to safeguard Malaysian waters.
On Friday, one of the two Royal Malaysian Navy submarines completed a Black Shark torpedo-shooting operation in waters off Sabah, achieving maximum damage on a target 13km away.
“This was just the icing on the cake and shows that our submarine is operational.
“The submarine was able to dive and carry out an accurate shooting operation.
“I hope the public will not doubt the capability of our submarines after this,” said Abdul Aziz.
He stressed that the Black Shark was a heavyweight torpedo developed in Italy and Malaysia was among the first to purchase the asset.