LCS: Khaled harap syarikat tak ada apa-apa lagi alasan

Menteri Pertahanan Khaled Nordin hopes that the Lumut Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (Lunas) will not provide any more excuses in the delivery of the frigate (LCS) to the Ministry of Defence (Kementah). Kementah expects the revised timeline for the construction and delivery of the LCS to be met by April 2027 without any further changes, he said.

As the buyer, Kementah is clearly eager to receive the LCS, and if the revised timeline is April 2027, they hope that Lunas will not have any more excuses or delays. It is important to understand that Kementah is the client, not the contractor, who did not build the ship, the minister added when discussing the National Audit Office (NAO) 2026 report, which found the LCS project to be 7.55% behind schedule as of 25 June, posing risks to the physical delivery of LCS 1.

These delays were due to the unavailability of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) launch system after the export permit for that missile was cancelled by the Norwegian government. Khaled admitted that the project's delays have affected military readiness and expressed Kementah's eagerness and displeasure with the construction delays and performance of the LCS, which are attributed to Lunas.

The minister believes that with the cooperation and commitment of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) this time, Lunas will not change the delivery date and the transfer of the LCS to Kementah will still occur in April 2027. The MoF will take steps to maintain its good reputation as Lunas belongs to the Ministry of Finance, he said.