General Naval News

[Sandhi Yudha]

Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding has launched the new Landing Ship Tank for the Nigerian Navy at their Albwardy Shipyard in Sharjah, UAE.

The new vessel will replace the landing ships NNS Ambe and NNS Ofiom, which were decommissioned around ten years ago. They were Type 502 amphibious vessels built by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) in Germany in 1978.

Damen Launches New Landing Ship Tank For Nigerian Navy - Naval News

The Nigerian Navy (NN) has launched a new Landing Ship Tank (LST) on June 7, at Damen Shipyard, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

www.navalnews.com

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

The contract between Turkey and Ukraine for the sale of Turkish-built Ada-class corvettes has turned out to involve two vessels.

Under the €200.000.000 deal, the first vessel will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of 2023 unfinished, to then be completed in Ukraine. It is unclear yet if the uninstalled equipment will be originated from Turkey or Ukraine.

Ukrainian official reveals number of Ada-class corvettes on order from Turkey

The Ukrainian Navy plans to deploy the corvettes in both the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

www.defensenews.com

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

The last Type 209/1400 of the order of 2+2 has been delivered to the Egypt Navy.
These four modern submarines are urgently needed by the Egypt Navy, because besides these German submarines it only operates four obsolete and worn out Type 033 boats, which are chinese copies of the classic Soviet Type 633 Romeo class.

Egypt receives fourth German S-44 submarine at Alexandria base

The S-44 submarine is a 62-meter-long vessel with eight weapon tubes.

www.defensenews.com

Here some news from Poland.
The offer of three ships presented by Navantia is based on the destroyer-size design of the advanced F-100 frigates, in service for the Spanish Navy, which has been the starting point for successful export contracts to Norway and Australia.

The Polish Project 621 Gawron class of corvettes, which are actually Meko A-100s built under licence, ended up in a failed program, because of the inability to finance the program, so i wonder if this time it will also end up as a failure or not.

Navantia Shortlisted To Build Three Frigates For Polish Navy - Naval News

The offer submitted by Navantia to the Polish Ministry of Defence to build three frigates in a Technology Transfer (ToT) program has been selected in a ‘short list’ along with two other finalists.

www.navalnews.com

Babcock and TKMS are the other candidates.

Babcock Shortlisted To Build Three Frigates For The Polish Navy - Naval News

Babcock is pleased to be one of the companies down selected by the Polish Government, to provide a potential design solution for the Polish Navy’s Miecznik (Swordfish) frigate programme.

www.navalnews.com

TKMS Shorlisted For The Polish Navy Frigate Acquisition Program - Naval News

Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems has been shortlisted to prepare a concept design and feasibility study as part of Project MIECZNIK, the acquisition of multi-mission frigates for the Polish Navy.

www.navalnews.com

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

The Turkmenistan Naval Forces recently commissioned the new Deniz Han corvette on 11 August 2021.

The Turkish Gulhan & Dearsan joint venture, consisting of two shipyards, built the Deniz Han corvette in Turkmenistan. So unlike the Babur-class corvettes for the Pakistan Navy, the ship is not based on the MILGEM / Ada-class design.

Deniz Han has a total length of 91,4 meters, a beam of 14,4 meters, and a displacement of approximately 1600 tonnes. The corvette is armed with a 1 x 8 MBDA Otomat Mk 2 anti-ship missile system, an Oto Melara 76 mm Super Rapid Gun, and a 35 mm Turkish Roketsan Gokdeniz Close-in Weapon System. Deniz Han has become the first naval ship fitted with the Gokdeniz CIWS.

Quite a large and powerful warship for a Caspian Sea navy.

Turkmenistan Comissions Its First Turkmen-Class Corvette “Deniz Han” - Naval News

On August 11, the Turkmen Armed Forces commissioned its first Turkmen-class corvette, the "Deniz Han" (pennant number:01), at Turkmenbashi Naval Base. Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov attended the ceremony.

www.navalnews.com

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

The trials last a total of two months, divided into two different periods. The current trial period will last about two weeks. Once this period is over, Al Jubail will have its combat system installed, prior to delivery of the ship.

The Saudi Arabian variant of the Avante 2000-ton class vessel is capable of performing anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW) and anti-air warfare (AAW). The Al Jubail-class corvette has a maximum range of 4500 nautical miles, achieving 25 knots powered by four CODADs.

The Al Jubail-class will be fitted with Oto Melara SUPER RAPID 76mm main gun, Oerlikon MILLENNIUM 35mm close-in weapon system, four 12,7mm machine guns, 2x3 torpedo tubes, 2x4 anti-ship missiles and 32 ESSM surface-to-air missiles (8-cell Mk 41).

It is unclear yet if the Al Jubail-class will replace the Badr-class, or if both stay serving the Royal Saudi Naval fleet.

NB 546 AL JUBAIL starts its sea trials - Navantia

The ship NB 546 AL-JUBAIL, the first of five corvettes that Navantia builds for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF), has begun its sea trials in the waters of the Bay of Cádiz in order to check the correct operation of all its systems. Sea trials are carried out before delivery to the client in

www.navantia.es

First Avante 2200 Corvette For Royal Saudi Navy Starts Sea Trials - Naval News

The ship NB 546 AL-JUBAIL, the first of five corvettes that Navantia builds for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF), has begun its sea trials in the waters of the Bay of Cádiz in order to check the correct operation of all its systems.

www.navalnews.com

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

Here some news from another 2000 ton class warship under construction.

Turkey will construct four corvettes for the Ukrainian Navy under the terms of the October 2020 agreement. The first corvette will be built in Turkey, while the remaining ships will be built at Ukraine’s OKEAN Shipyard.

The corvettes will be equipped with Harpoon anti-ship missiles as their primary strike system. Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister stated that the country was considering the indigenous Neptune anti-ship missile, as well as the Harpoon, Atmaca, and Naval Strike Missile. Still, the Harpoon was an unexpected choice.

The Oto Melara 76 mm Super Rapid gun, Rheinmetall Oerlikon’s Millennium 35 mm close-in weapon system, and Aselsan’s 12.7 mm STAMP gun will be mounted on the corvettes. The primary weapon against the submarine threat will be MU-90 impact torpedoes.

Turkish Shipyard lays keel first Ada-class corvette for Ukraine - Naval News

Turkey's RMK Marine Shipyard laid the keel of Ukraine’s first Ada-class corvette during a ceremony held in Istanbul on 07 September. The ceremony was attended by a delegation from the Ministry of Defense, led by Commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa.

www.navalnews.com

 

[Ananda]

Xavier in DSEI 2021 London. For first day episode he's talking with Rafael (Sea Breaker) and IAI (Sea Serpent) of their new SSM, and VARD (Fincantieri subsidiary) and Danish Design House for their OPV design.

IAI working with Thales UK for new RN SSM project.

 

[Ananda]

Day 2 in DSEI from Xavier. Now talking with Raytheon for their chances on RN new SSM Project. Looking at discussion, seems they are quite confident on their chances, due to their already proven integration with USN.

It will be interesting how the evaluation process for this Harpoon replacement program, toward competition with Israelis SSM from Thales UK - IAI effort with Sea Serpent and Rafael with their Sea Breaker.

 

[Redlands18]

Day 2 in DSEI from Xavier. Now talking with Raytheon for their chances on RN new SSM Project. Looking at discussion, seems they are quite confident on their chances, due to their already proven integration with USN.

It will be interesting how the evaluation process for this Harpoon replacement program, toward competition with Israelis SSM from Thales UK - IAI effort with Sea Serpent and Rafael with their Sea Breaker.

A potential AUKUS program?

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

Plans to rebuild Ukraine's naval capability have taken a further step forward after US company SAFE Boats International received an USD84,2 million contract to deliver six MK VI patrol boats. The contract includes an option for a further two MK VI craft.

MK VI patrol boat order for Ukraine confirmed

Plans to rebuild Ukraine's naval capability have taken a further step forward after US company SAFE Boats International received an USD84.2 million contract to deliver...

www.janes.com

There were already signs in begin this year that the US Navy wants to get rid of these small but new patrolboats. The decision was made as a cost saving measure, as the boats were not extensively used, suffered from reliability problems, and were considered too expensive to maintain. So i wonder how the Ukraine Navy with its limited budget can keep these boats operationable.

The Navy Wants To Get Rid Of Its Nearly Brand New Patrol Boats

The Navy is looking to have all of its Mk VI patrol boats, the oldest of which it acquired just six years ago, decommissioned by the end of the year.

www.thedrive.com

And here we can read that the crew of this Belgian frigate is too inexperienced and not sufficiently trained to join a coming NATO-exercise. Big chance this is caused by years of budget cuts.

Bemanning van Belgisch fregat is te onervaren om mee te doen aan NAVO-oefening

Het fregat Leopold I ligt nu in Den Helder totdat de opvarenden wel aan de eisen voldoen.

nos.nl

 

[Big_Zucchini]

Estonia becomes 2nd buyer of Gabriel-based missile after Finland:

https://www.iai.co.il/estonia-awards-contract-to-proteus-for-blue-spear

This missile is marketed by multiple entities. The Estonian program acquires the Blue Spear, offered by IAI and ST Engineering, while another derivative is currently offered to the UK, called Sea Serpent and offered by IAI and Thales.

It is rumored Israel and Singapore are already using this missile in some variants, making the possible number of distinct variants anywhere from 3 to 5.

 

[Ananda]

TKMS Lifts Veil on Powerful MEKO A-300 class frigate - Naval News

TKMS revealed data on the Meko-A300 class frigates that the company proposed to the Polish Navy as part of the Miecznik program

www.navalnews.com

TKMS shown big package for Polish Frigate competition, which so far seems outgunned potential customers current specs like Arrow 140 or FREMM. Seems it is also first Euro design (correct me if I'm wrong) that shown High Energy Laser modules (seems to handle for potential drones incursions).

Let's how the other designs going to answered it.

 

[ngatimozart]

TKMS Lifts Veil on Powerful MEKO A-300 class frigate - Naval News

TKMS revealed data on the Meko-A300 class frigates that the company proposed to the Polish Navy as part of the Miecznik program

www.navalnews.com

TKMS shown big package for Polish Frigate competition, which so far seems outgunned potential customers current specs like Arrow 140 or FREMM. Seems it is also first Euro design (correct me if I'm wrong) that shown High Energy Laser modules (seems to handle for potential drones incursions).

Let's how the other designs going to answered it.

Very well armed and thought out. I like their mission bay layout underneath the flight deck.

 

[Redlands18]

Very well armed and thought out. I like their mission bay layout underneath the flight deck.

Something keeps bugging me about that design 1/ the number of VLS cells on a ship of that size, 2/ the placement of the midships VLS, they are right next to the SSM Launchers only a metre or so away and 3/ the overall height of all the VLS Cells both forward and midships. That is a very heavily armed Warship with 68 VLS, a VSRAD and 16 SSMs on a 130m Ship.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

TKMS Lifts Veil on Powerful MEKO A-300 class frigate - Naval News

TKMS revealed data on the Meko-A300 class frigates that the company proposed to the Polish Navy as part of the Miecznik program

www.navalnews.com

TKMS shown big package for Polish Frigate competition, which so far seems outgunned potential customers current specs like Arrow 140 or FREMM. Seems it is also first Euro design (correct me if I'm wrong) that shown High Energy Laser modules (seems to handle for potential drones incursions).

Let's how the other designs going to answered it.

The MEKO A-100 Gawron class of corvette was a complete failure with the only vessel built ending up as a FFBNW-patrol corvette, because of a lack of money.
So it is just remarkable if suddenly this most advanced and powerful German frigate design becomes reality.

 

[ngatimozart]

Something keeps bugging me about that design 1/ the number of VLS cells on a ship of that size, 2/ the placement of the midships VLS, they are right next to the SSM Launchers only a metre or so away and 3/ the overall height of all the VLS Cells both forward and midships. That is a very heavily armed Warship with 68 VLS, a VSRAD and 16 SSMs on a 130m Ship.

I would suspect that the 32 VLS between the two islands on what looks like 02 deck, would possibly be the mushroom type for Sea Ceptor. The placement of the mission bay would counter the weight placement of the upper VLS. The Mk-41 VLS forward of the bridge has its doors on 1 deck so it isn't higher, remembering that the weight is shared between 1, 2 and 3 decks.

 

[kato]

Very well armed and thought out. I like their mission bay layout underneath the flight deck.

The mission deck in particular looks very cramped actually, much like the rest. That's a classic Meko design problem though, the customer solution is always to "choose less" in the end. It should be noted that the version of Meko A-300 presented earlier (around the time of the Greece bid) was considerably less cluttered in this regard.

The general concept of flexible mission deck under flight deck with pass-through flush hatches for containerized loading and stern gate for boat ramp access is basically standard for German shipyards now. Future F126 frigates or also the current BP86 patrol ships of the Coastguard use the same concept.

Armament on The A300 on a hunch by numbers and diversity seems somewhat laid out to - in the future - compete against possible entries of the PPA design by Fincantieri in lower-cost frigate procurement by third nations.

 

[At lakes]

https://vardmarine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/VARD-7-125-NGOPV.pdf

Recently Vard Marine released an infographic on the Vard115 NGOPV well they now have tarted their Vard 125 design and are calling it the Vard 125 NGOPV . Looks interesting may even be very capable. Like the Vard 7 115 this one appears to be very heavy on the crew levels. But imagine that could be reduced somewhat with automation etc

 

[ngatimozart]

https://vardmarine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/VARD-7-125-NGOPV.pdf

Recently Vard Marine released an infographic on the Vard115 NGOPV well they now have tarted their Vard 125 design and are calling it the Vard 125 NGOPV . Looks interesting may even be very capable. Like the Vard 7 115 this one appears to be very heavy on the crew levels. But imagine that could be reduced somewhat with automation etc

I was thinking that the 150 would be crew plus sea riders. However when I went back and looked at my copy of the VARD 7-115-NGOPV Infographic, I saw that it stated core crew of 150 personnel, plus 38 sea riders. That sounds like USN / USCG crewing levels, definitely not Commonwealth naval levels.

 

[Systems Adict]

The trials last a total of two months, divided into two different periods. The current trial period will last about two weeks. Once this period is over, Al Jubail will have its combat system installed, prior to delivery of the ship.

I'm sorry if this sounds like a question from an idiot, but the articles / links relating to Al Jubail that I have read, all have the same content / press release.

Do the Spanish really not fit any of the 'combat system', then in a total of 40 days ( ?? ), they fit all the guns / missiles / weapons consoles / cabling & sensors ?

As someone who works within the shipbuilder community, I get the impression that the author's native tongue is NOT English & that Google translate has done a piss-poor job of translating things.

In 35 years of engineering, I've only ever seen x1 warship sail around without a main gun / with the hole covered over (Due to it being swapped out with the gun from a sister ship, as their gun had gone off for repairs). I think that article is meant to imply that the sea trials is when the final setting to work / proof testing will be conducted, to prove to the customer that the Combat systems & equipment already fitted to the ship will actually function.

SA