Audit finds wiring work on Malaysia's first two combat ships far behind target

KUALA LUMPUR: Electrical work on the first two Littoral Combat Ships is far behind target, according to the Auditor General's Report 2/2026, which found the programme as a whole was 7.55 percentage points behind schedule as of June 25.

Delays on individual activities ranged from 30 to 108 days.

Wiring on LCS 1 had reached 51.41 per cent and LCS 2 stood at 43.49 per cent, against a planned 100 per cent for both, the report showed. That leaves gaps of 48.59 and 56.51 percentage points.

Piping work stood at 87.70 per cent on LCS 1 and 74.73 per cent on LCS 2.

The audit attributed the delays to rework arising from design changes. Some 4,113 pipe spools were affected, including rerouting to resolve clashes between components, while electrical work was disrupted by revisions involving 95 cable trays and 85 structural penetrations.

The delays were first identified in November 2025, following a notification from the design authority, Naval Group.

Progress reported but not verified

The National Audit Department said the contractor had reported piping work on LCS 1 at 100 per cent and LCS 2 at 96 per cent by July 2026.

The project management office could not verify those figures, however, because the contractor had not formally submitted documents supporting the completion rates reported up to that month.

That verification gap matters because unfinished internal work can delay system installation, integration, testing and ultimately the physical handover of the ships.

The contractor had earlier moved to three-shift operations from January 23, 2024, to speed up the work.

Risk of handover without full capability

LCS 1 was originally scheduled for physical handover on August 26, 2026, before that date was moved to December 26, 2026.

The National Audit Department warned that the ship risked being handed over without achieving full capability because training and weapons systems remained incomplete.

Full operational capability for the wider programme depends on a supplementary contract not expected to be completed until December 2035, beyond the main contract's deadline of April 25, 2030.

The department recommended that the Defence Ministry draw up a realistic recovery plan, impose conditional acceptance terms setting out the contractor's obligations and completion timelines, and tighten monitoring with officers specifically responsible for resolving critical issues.

The audit was carried out at the request of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee in October 2023.

Questions about the project's origins return

The programme began as an order for six ships worth RM9.128 billion, with deliveries scheduled by 2023. After restructuring, the number of ships was cut to five while the contract value rose to RM11.22 billion.

In a statement on October 6, Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng revisited the role of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi during his time as defence minister, pointing to a handwritten notation reading "SUB Procurement, please implement" on a Boustead Naval Shipyard letter dated July 8, 2010.

Lim also questioned whether the ships' technology would be obsolete by the time they were ready, given that full operational capability is targeted only for 2035, 24 years after procurement began in 2011.

Ahmad Zahid has not responded to the statement.