KUALA LUMPUR: The Defence Ministry is considering missiles from South Korea, Turkey or France to replace the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) on the littoral combat ships (LCS), after what it called Norway's unlawful cancellation of the supply.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said missiles from LIG Nex1 of South Korea, Roketsan of Turkey or MBDA of France would take only three years to deliver.
"We are weighing all of this and will make sure delivery and installation do not take too long, unlike the Norway contract, which took up to eight years," he said in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (Oct 7).
He said Norway had been given extensions because components of its missile system needed US approval, which took two to three years, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He was responding to the Putatan MP, who had suggested looking for alternatives.
Mohamed Khaled said the Auditor-General's Report projection that the first LCS would only be completed in December 2035 was based on the timeframe of the Norway contract, and was "inaccurate and untrue".
"If there had been no unilateral cancellation, the LCS would have been delivered on the new date of April 2027," he said.
Until a replacement is fitted, he said, the Navy would work with the Air Force against enemy vessels.
"Say a ship 100km away that we consider has bad intentions towards our country. Through detection by our ships, we can inform the Air Force to carry out an attack," he said.
Norway revoked the export licence for the NSM, ordered in 2018 under a US$145mil (RM611mil) contract with Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace, days before the missiles were due to be delivered in March.
Oslo cited tighter export controls limiting sensitive defence technology to Nato allies and closest partners.
Malaysia, which had paid RM571.9mil under the contract, is seeking to recover the payment, and the Cabinet suspended all new defence procurement from Norway in July.
