PETALING JAYA: The Defence Ministry has been instructed to immediately halt all new procurement of defence equipment and assets from Norway following the country's decision to revoke the export licence for missiles intended to be fitted on the Royal Malaysian Navy's Littoral Combat Ships (LCS).
Government spokesman Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the Cabinet made the decision after reviewing Norway's move to cancel the export licence for the missiles meant for the navy's LCS.
"The Cabinet has decided that the Defence Ministry is to immediately stop any new procurement of defence equipment or assets from Norway," he said in a statement on Wednesday (July 8).
In May, the Norwegian government revoked the export licence for the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) and its associated launcher system, saying exports of the technology would be restricted to close allies and partners, including NATO members.
The NSM procurement contract was signed between the Royal Malaysian Navy and supplier Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) in April 2018.
The contract, worth RM571.9mil, was to equip six LCS vessels.
Malaysia is seeking more than RM1bil in compensation from KDA, including indirect costs such as removing the missile mounting systems already installed on the ships and integrating replacement systems supplied by another vendor.
On May 31, Norwegian Defence Minister Tore O. Sandvik apologised to Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin over Norway's decision to revoke the export licence for the NSM.
