KUALA LUMPUR: The Defence Ministry is aware that the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) is considering acquiring pre-owned ships as a gap filler to address delays in the construction of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS).
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said one of these involves Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Anzac, which was decommissioned on May 18.
But after a thorough study, he said RMN concluded that the HMAS Anzac was unsuitable based on issues such as equipment commonality and the non-beneficial acquisition cost to the government.
"If we were to acquire the HMAS Anzac, the process is expected to take until 2027, by which time we would have two LCS ships, the first and second of which will be delivered and operational by 2027," he said, in response to an additional question from Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (PN-Tanah Merah) in the Dewan Rakyat today (June 24).
Khaled added that the ministry had also acquired three littoral mission ships from Turkiye, all of which are expected to be ready by late 2027.
On the progress of the LCS 2, Khaled said it stood at 64.66 per cent, LCS 3 at 56.48 per cent, LCS 4 at 51.10 per cent and LCS 5 at 42.33 per cent.
He said the government had paid a cumulative sum of RM7.15 billion for the LCS project to date.
He added that the construction of the first LCS was on schedule, with its delivery expected in 2026.
On June 4, the ministry in a statement said LCS 1 was put into water or "downslipped" on May 23, as per the contract schedule, at 6.30pm at Lumut Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (Lunas).