 The two ships of the class are named after Hang Kasturi and Hang Lekir, two heroic figures from the Malay 15th-century epic narrative Hikayat Hang Tuah.They share this characteristic with the two s KD "Lekiu" and KD "Jebat", as well as the old frigate-turned-trainingship , all of which are named after figures from the epic as well.The class was ordered in February 1981, and built by the German Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) shipyard.