IN 2007, Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) a unit of Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Bhd (BHIC), which in turn is controlled by the Armed Forces Fund Board or LTAT sought the support of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the Prime Minister’s Department and the then defence minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for a programme to build six littoral combat ships (LCS) at its Lumut dockyard.