Shipbuilder told to expedite work as LCS delivery slips further

As the timeline for the delivery of the navy’s littoral combat ship (LCS) slips further and further away, Defence Minister Khaled Nordin said he has told the shipbuilder to expedite work and ensure there will be no further delays.

The statement comes after the delivery of the first ship slated for December this year was pushed to April 2027 instead, and without its main anti-ship armament.

Khaled (above) added that the expedited work will not wait for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to take place, Bernama quoted him as saying.

“The completion of LCS 1 is a separate matter and does not depend on the RCI. Otherwise, the ship would still not be completed.

“That is why we have asked the shipbuilder to speed up the work and ensure there are no further delays,” Khaled reportedly told the media in Kota Tinggi, Johor.

The minister said this when asked to respond to Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim’s call to “fast track” investigations into the LCS project with various enforcement agencies instead of waiting for an RCI to be formed.

Khaled also said the matter is best left to MACC and other authorities, and criminal action has already been taken against a former navy chief, who had also served as managing director of the shipbuilder Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd.

The Bernama report did not identify the ex-naval officer, but it apparently refers to Ahmad Ramli Nor (above).

He had been charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to the LCS project in 2022, but was granted an acquittal not amounting to discharge (DNAA) last year after the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court deemed him mentally unfit to stand trial.

As for procuring a new missile system to replace the naval strike missile (NSM), Khaled said the government is still negotiating with several shortlisted countries.

The procurement would not depend on the Budget 2027 allocation, as the ministry wanted to ensure that LCS 1 would not take too long to be fully equipped.

For now, he said the ship was equipped with surface-to-air missiles, anti-submarine warfare capabilities, and an electronic jamming system, with surface-to-surface missiles being the remaining capability yet to be installed.

The LCS programme signed in July 2014 was originally slated to deliver six ships from April 2019 to June 2023, at a cost of RM9.128 billion. These are sorely needed by the navy to rejuvenate its ageing fleet.

However, the project has since been hit with cost overruns, delays, allegations of financial wrongdoing, and Norway’s decision to revoke export licences for the NSM.

READ MORE: Fact check: Why did Norway ban missiles shipment to Malaysia?

The first ship, dubbed KD Maharaja Lela, was slated to be delivered in December this year. However, Khaled had told Parliament on Oct 7 that it would be delivered in April 2027 instead, without its anti-surface missiles.

The Auditor-General’s Report 2/2026 projected that problems procuring the NSM could mean the ship will not reach full operational capability until December 2035, after the main contract has already expired in April 2030.

“If LCS 1 is delivered on Aug 26, 2026, or on Dec 26, 2026, the ship will be handed over with incomplete training and armament,” it said.

The LCS was designed to carry eight NSM missiles as its main armament, capable of striking targets on land and at sea more than 200km away.

Its other anti-surface weapons comprise a 57mm dual-purpose gun and two 30mm autocannons. Both have substantially less range and firepower than the NSM.

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