He said the LCS project was still in the “mobilisation phase”, which is expected to be completed by the end of December.

“As far as I know, negotiations with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and vendors are going well,” he told reporters after the passing-out parade of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) recruits in Tanjung Pengelih here today.

He said this phase started last June. This involved Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd, which will carry out negotiations with the OEMs to start the construction work when the phase ended.

Reza said the company had completed the negotiation process and was currently presenting the results to the project monitoring committee, which is jointly chaired by the secretaries-general of the Treasury and defence ministry, before being presented to the Cabinet.

Defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein was previously reported to have said that the first LCS ship was expected to be completed within two years.

On the proposal to upgrade the new generation patrol vessel (NGPV), Reza said some of the systems in the six vessels that were built 10 years ago were already obsolete or worn out. Spare parts could not be obtained in the market.

“The time has come for us to change the systems on these ships. This includes the sensor and weapon systems.”

He said most RMN assets needed to be upgraded as some of the equipment were 40 to 50 years old.

“Therefore, the procurement of new RMN ships is very critical to produce competent navy people. But any planning will be based on allocations,” he said.