LCS delay will not affect their capabilities, says minister

KUALA LUMPUR: The delay in the construction of the littoral combat ships (LCS) will not affect their capabilities, particularly their engines and other equipment that were purchased earlier, the Dewan Negara has been told.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the LCS diesel engines from MTU Services of Germany are in good condition.“There is no issue with the engines – we will use the same ones, along with the gearboxes, the shafts and propellers, which will determine the speed and how the ship will be operated later.

“However, we need to upgrade, modify and add value to the CMS (Communication Management System), because (the old ones) used a lot of switches that need to be improved.

“We have also changed the type of missile we want to use, we now use the one from Norway,” he said yesterday in response to a supplementary question from Senator Datuk Dr Ahmad Azam Hamzah, who had asked about this during the question and answer session.

Mohamad said the Defence Ministry would not compromise with any party in matters involving investigations into the LCS construction project.

“We have agreed to eliminate a company that served as the middleman. There is only one caveat, and that is if they ask to be excluded from any future action.

“We don’t want to compromise on that – for us at the Defence Ministry, it’s up to the investigating agency ... and the prosecuting agency is not under the purview of the ministry, so whoever will be investigated is up to them,” he said.

He also said the ministry had agreed to sign the universal settlement agreement to resolve the matter related to the middleman. — Bernama