PARLIAMENT The four Littoral Mission Ships (LMS) purchased from China will enable the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) carry out challenging missions and meet international maritime standards, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the ships were specially designed for use in operations against current threats such as piracy, cross-border crimes and Islamic State (IS) militant activities.

He said the ships would replace the RMN old assets that required higher operating cost and were less effective in performing operational tasks.

“At the moment, the RMN fleet consists of 15 classes of ships with an average age exceeding 30 years. Therefore, the operating cost of the RMN fleet continues to rise each year due to higher maintenance cost,” he said during the Ministers’ Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat.

He was replying to a question from Raime Unggi (BN-Tenom) on the purchase of the ships as announced by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak during his visit to China recently.

Hishammuddin said the LMS procurement also involved the transfer of technology as the vessels would be constructed under a joint venture between Malaysia’s Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd and China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co Ltd.

He said the joint venture would help the local company to be more competitive and provide more employment opportunities.

On the old ships which were no longer cost-effective to operate, Hishammuddin said they would be decommissioned and disposed of in stages according to government policy.

He said the government had the option of selling the ships via open tender to authorised parties or countries, donate them or sell them as scrap.

“A decision (assets disposal procedure) that can offer the highest return and the best value to the government will be made after a study,” he added.

- Bernama