Malaysia scuttles one LCS, as Boustead struggles to fulfil obligations
Malaysia’s Littoral Combat Ship programme has become a poignant lesson in how not to pursue indigenous shipbuilding. (Photo: Gordon Arthur)
Malaysia’s LCS programme has become a long-running sorry saga, with one ship already dumped.
The troubled Maharaja Lela-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) programme had been reduced to five ships instead of the original six, Adm Abdul Rahman Ayob, Chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), stated on 30 January.
In his inaugural address after assuming command on 27 February, Abdul Rahman confirmed that a decision to pare the programme back to five ships had been made a while ago. However, he did not specify under which government the decision was made.
It was the first official confirmation of this reduction in scope, though the decision was somewhat easy given that construction of LCS6
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