SHAH ALAM: Work on the LCS project is expected to start this September, RMN Chief Admiral TS Rahman Ayob said today. Speaking to the media in Kota Kinabalu today, he said the resumption of work was starting after the signing of the sixth supplementary contract on May 26.
As reported previously
The cost for the five-ship LCS project has been bumped up for around RM2 billion more. The figure was released by Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Sdn Bhd (BHIC) in a Bursa Malaysia announcement today (May 26). The cost for the five ships is now RM11.2 billion compared to RM9.1 billion, the release said. Do note that the new figure tracks the one presented by Malaysian Defence some months back.
As for the other revision to the contract, BHIC said only five ships will be built now. The deadline for delivery has also been moved to August 2026 instead of the very suspect – 2025 – deadline announced earlier by the Defence Minister. This is still seven years delay to the original deadline. The fifth will be delivered in April 2029, some five years after it was supposed to be delivered. Payments will only be made based on progress rather than milestone as had been done
Rahman was quoted by the national news agency Bernama as saying that the first of five LCS – Maharaja Lela – was expected by the end of 2026. He was speaking to the media at a press conference to mark the end of Eks Angsa 2023 at the RMN naval base in Teluk Sepanggar, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
As for the LMS Batch 2, Rahman said it was still at the evaluation phase for the best design to meet the specifications of the RMN. “The funding has been allocated, we hope to sign the contract by year end and the first ship is expected to be delivered in 36 months (December 2026).
For context on the LCS debacle, HMS Venturer – the first of class of the Type 31 frigate of the Royal Navy – was launched in 2021 and is expected to enter service in 2025.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (20)
LCS has been a laughing stock among our neighbour especially the Indonesian. Nearly 10 years delay for 5 ships...what a joke
Why are you so bothered by the thoughts of others? You do not feel the outrage yourself?
LCS is a clown of a ship. When its finish (assume its finished), I bet the crew who will manned the ship will be depressed as hell as they are laugh by other navies around the world.
No, they will not be depressed by the laughs, they will be depressed because the government so much money for something that is not worth it.
Don’t worry about those Indonesian internet trolls. They are just that. Plenty of them with nothing better to do with their time.
Will the LCS delivered on 2026 with state of art tech or outdated tech from the date is announced years ago? Hope the new LMS batch will have more firepower then LMS currently in service
I just hope they don't prepare a restart ceremony to gain political publicity.
They wont as even the current minister have been accused been involved in the debacle. A bit unfair to me, honestly.
The government and perhaps a significant portion of the country has committed to the LCS program. So just accept it for what it is and hope for the best. It is already a little bit outdated in 2023, and will be more outdated in 2026. But the LCS program would significantly increase the number of anti ship and anti air missiles RMN has - LMS2 if fully kitted and not FFBNW, is to my knowledge proposed to have half the missiles of a LCS (i.e. 8xVLS, 4xAnti Ship). Would it have been better to cancel and put the additional RM3b in funding to LMS2? Absolutley, but thats not happening. The decision has been made, so just focus on execution.
The ships are not a joke, nor the crew will be. The joke is on our penchant for ever changing governments and letting them play football with defence of the realm matters. The joke is on the Malaysian people, not the serving men & women. Look at how much Jokowi did compared to us postBN. If Indonesians are laughing at us, its more than just one thing.
For sure there will be some cost to be forked out from the gov coffers because all the systems & radars need to be updated too. 7 years delay, a lot to cope. And the perps are still free, plotting another scam
Maybe we can named the ships after Malaysian comedians.KD Tompel,KD Badul,KD Ayappan.etc.(just joking!)
"Why are you so bothered by the thoughts of others? You do not feel the outrage yourself?"
You think i don't feel it? How funny, when I'm feeling the rage to the point of giving up already.
"Don’t worry about those Indonesian internet trolls. They are just that. Plenty of them with nothing better to do with their time."
Funny you accused me of Indonesian troll when I'm from the same country as all of you here do. I'll say this again. The crews and captain of the ship will feel depressed since this project is a sick of a damn project. This is something I agree with Indonesian trolls.