LUMUT: Five Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) scheduled to be delivered this month to the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) are only 22 to 60 per cent completed, while one more ordered has yet to be built.
Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) also clarified that 15 per cent of the equipment kept in storage for the LCS project is not obsolete but "in the process of becoming obsolete" or obsolescence.
BNS chief executive officer Azhar Jumaat said this in clarifying matters highlighted by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and other claims made by certain quarters regarding the Navy's LCS.
When listing out the construction statuses of the six ships, he said the first ship is at 60 per cent completion, followed by the second ship at 48 per cent, the third ship (43 per cent), the fourth ship (36 per cent), the fifth ship (22 per cent), while the construction of the sixth ship has yet to begin.
He said these were the latest in the development of these vessels, and it was based on the physical work carried out. He said the latest data had also been presented to the cabinet last April.
"This development is different from what was reported by the PAC, which was based on information in Nov 2020.
"So there is a time difference of at least a year and a half; and of course the latest percentage figures for the development statuses of the (ships) construction are different," he said in a two-hour media briefing involving 40 media practitioners on the construction of the LCS at the RMN Base here today.
The LCS project is the largest acquisition in the history of the Defence Ministry, with an overall value of RM9 billion.
The contract began in 2013 and was projected to end in 10 years.
The PAC, in its report on Aug 4, said the government had paid RM6.083 billion to BNS, in a deal that was signed via direct negotiation, but not a single vessel has been delivered.
Based on the original schedule, five of the six LCS vessels should have been completed and handed over by this month.
PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh had said excess costs for the project had ballooned to RM1.4 billion, with RM400 million spent to settle old debts from a previous patrol ship project.
On Aug 7, the RMN said the delay in the project has had a negative impact on the capabilities of the Navy's combat fleet.
Two days later, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the first of these six ships would be delivered to the RMN in one or two years, and he pledged that those involved in the project found guilty of wrongdoing would be brought to justice.
On Aug 10, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government would declassify documents pertaining to investigations into the LCS scandal.
Azhar also strongly denied that 15 per cent of the LCS equipment worth RM1.7 billion stored in the warehouse have become obsolete as claimed by a member of an opposition party.
"It is not accurate because the term obsolete means that something has become useless, but we say that it is in the process of becoming obsolete.
"Obsolescence can be managed if we continue and are able to carry out routine maintenance and to mitigate so-called concerns about things becoming obsolete.
"We have received assurances from all the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) especially those with mission-critical, combat-critical items that the equipment are still operational and supportable for the next 25 years," he said.
On Friday, Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim said the combat management system of the LCS currently under construction may become obsolete within the next decade after a change of specifications.
"If you want to equate obsolescence to parts of a television (TV) set, (that is fine). That is not a combat mission control critical equipment. It (television) is an item meant for leisure activities, perhaps for a ship's crew. It is not entirely fair to equate the obsolete nature of TV equipment to that of a military ship," he said.
When commenting on heavy criticism regarding the facade of one of the six ships, which had been displayed during a launch ceremony of the project in 2017 involving members of Perak royalty, Azhar also gave an explanation.
He denied that the radome of the ship was built from plywood, as what was claimed by certain quarters.
"People are saying that when we launched the ship in 2017 with the presence of Sultan of Perak (Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah) and Tuanku Zara Salim, the radome was fake and created from plywood and what-not.
"What I am trying to say is that this is the real radome made from GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) material, ordered from France.
"When we launched the ship, it is with the real radome, not a fake radome. So when we sent the ship back for further construction, we placed the radome back in the warehouse," he said.
Asked if BNS needed an additional budget to complete all the ships, Azhar said that would be decided by the Defence Ministry.
"I am not able to answer that because there will be a specific session with the Defence Minister to explain it," he said.