Lumut: Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 1) KD Maharajalela will begin its first trial today to test machinery, power generation, air-conditioning and propulsion systems. Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the trial marks the initial process to ensure that LCS 1 is capable of sailing at sea.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the shipyard-level sea trial phase for LCS 1 had already commenced on January 20. Although there has been a delay compared with the original schedule, LCS 1, which stood at 82.90 percent progress as of last December, has been successfully launched and is now in the phase of installation and integration of the ship's main systems. Specifically for LCS 1, the targeted progress should have been 96.52 percent, while the actual overall progress of the LCS project has reached 75.75 percent, compared with the planned progress of 81.57 percent.
Mohamed Khaled was responding to a question from Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (PN-Tanah Merah) on the performance status of LCS 1 KD Maharajalela and whether the vessel could be commissioned according to schedule. He stated that preparations of the platform and equipment are actively under way to enable full sea trials for LCS 1 to begin in early April.
According to him, a report submitted by Lumut Naval Shipyard (LUNAS) to the project team stated that the commissioning schedule for LCS 1 has been revised to December this year. There is indeed a four-month delay. As for LCS 2, its commissioning has been revised to August 2027. For the subsequent vessels, the commissioning of LCS 3 remains scheduled for December 2027, LCS 4 for August 2028 and LCS 5 for April 2029.
Commenting on expenditure costs, Mohamed Khaled said the total contract value of the LCS project stands at RM11.2 billion for all five vessels, with current expenditure amounting to RM8.3 billion, or approximately 74 percent of the total. In ensuring transparency and continuous oversight, the ministry has established various monitoring platforms such as the Project Management Review, Project Monitoring Committee and technical committees that meet regularly, with full involvement of the RMN (Royal Malaysian Navy) as the end-user and LUNAS.
Responding to a supplementary question from Ikmal Hisham on crew readiness to operate LCS 1, he said the RMN is giving serious attention to the matter to ensure that trained crew are prepared in line with the delivery of the vessel.