Key progress has been made to revive the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) following the signing ceremony of a fifth supplementary contract between the Ministry of Defence Malaysia (MinDef) and Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) on 31 May 2022.
BHIC Chief Executive Officer, Sharifuddin Md. Zaini Al-Manaf said that the LCS project team at BNS has been active since the announcement by Senior Minister of Defence, Dato’ Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, in preparation to revive the project which was stalled since 2019.
“The main objective of this supplementary contract is to enable remobilisation activities, allowing BNS to resume payment to creditors, OEMs and financial institutions. The next few months are crucial for BNS to make an extensive assessment on the condition of all equipment and the existing ships in their respective stages of construction”, he said.
Under the LCS Revival Plan, the Government will set up a Project Monitoring Committee to closely supervise the project over the mobilisation period.
Sharifuddin added that with the experienced and qualified Project Management team and facilities at BHIC’s disposal, the company can look forward to further contribute to strengthen the armada of Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) and safeguarding Malaysia’s maritime security and interests by completing the first-in-class ships
The Senior Defence Minister announced on 22 April 2022 that the Cabinet unanimously agreed to continue with the procurement of the LCS for the RMN. BNS, an associate company of BHIC, was awarded a contract valued at RM9.1 billion in Page 2 of 2 2011 to build six units of the ships. The LCS are among the key assets in RMN’s 15 to 5 Fleet Transformation Programme to strengthen its armada with modern, fit for purpose ships to bolster Malaysia’s maritime security.
