BNS proves five LCS exist, under construction

LUMUT - Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) today proves that there are five littoral combat ships (LCS) which are currently under construction with the first ship in 60 per cent completion.

Through a visit with media practitioners, BNS Chief Executive Officer Ir Azhar Jumaat said the construction works on the five LCS vessels stationed at the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) base in Lumut were still ongoing.

He said the first ship had shown development of up to 60 per cent, the second ship (LCS 2) reached 48 per cent, LCS 3 (43 per cent), LCS 4 (36 per cent) and LCS 5 (22 per cent).

"The RM6 billion spent by the government has been proven as the five ships are under construction with few stages to be completed.

"The first ship with construction completed up to 60 per cent has also been presented to the cabinet.

"We have set the path and level of capability, so please give us the opportunity and space to show the reality," he said during the briefing session and media visit which was attended by 48 media practitioners.

During the two-hour visit, the media saw the progress of the first LCS construction and was shown the BNS ship storage warehouse which stored equipment related to the LCS project.

Azhar said, with the existence of the five vessels, he hoped that this could give a real explanation to the public that the project was not ‘invisible’ as some parties described.

He said BNS would never confuse the Royal Institution with non-existent ship construction.

"Many people claim the LCS project is invisible, that the ship is made of wood and even the Sultan of Perak is confused.

“All these claims are not true.

"This is not an invisible ship, but a real metal ship, and not made of wood and more importantly, this is not a replica, this is a real ship," he said.

The LCS project began to steal the spotlight when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed that about RM6 billion had been spent, yet not a single ship had been completed.