KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — The six-month mobilisation phase of the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) project which began in June has gone smoothly and shown positive progress, says Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

He said many things had been implemented and resolved within the first three months of the phase, especially from commercial and government-to-government aspects.

Following negotiations with 145 local vendors and 42 overseas Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), he said Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNSSB) as the manufacturing company had received commitments involving equipment and systems to support BNSSB in continuing the LCS project.

“The process of terminating Contraves Advanced Devices (CAD) and Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd (CED) as middlemen is also actively being pursued to enable BNSSB to negotiate directly with OEMs and vendors.

“This step will be able to reduce the cost of the ships’ equipment,” he said in a statement today.

Hishammuddin said that for debt restructuring, BNSSB was also actively negotiating with nine banking institutions and the matter was expected to be finalised during the mobilisation period.

In addition, he said BNSSB was also discussing the ships’ detailed design with Naval Group from France, which is expected to send a technical team to conduct an audit this month.

At the same time, Hishammuddin said a representative of the French government had also met with him and submitted a written commitment to resume and complete the LCS project.

“This is an important and very helpful development, considering that the Naval Group is owned by the French government,” he said.

Hishammuddin said the construction of the LCS would only resume once all negotiations were completed and agreements finalised in the mobilisation phase which ends in December, stressing that at least one LCS should be completed within two years.

“This period is realistic given that when this mobilisation phase is completed, all parties involved have 14 months to ensure the ship is ready to be built and is on the surface of the water before undergoing training such as Harbour Acceptance Test and Sea Acceptance Trial,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin informed that while waiting for the LCS project to be fully completed, RMN had applied to acquire a second batch of Littoral Mission Ships (LMS) equipped with more comprehensive weaponry and the matter had been brought to the Economic Planning Unit by his ministry.

“All parties involved are no longer looking back and working hard to ensure that RMN can have these necessary assets.

“At the same time, my ministry will also continue to give full cooperation to whatever investigations currently being carried out by the authorities,” he said. — Bernama