Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) News and Discussion

[swerve]

Could Vard help with the build, to speed it up?

 

[Vivendi]

The press release says that Norway’s T26s will be UK spec in order to facilitate training and potentially allow for crew swaps in the future.

So that means that Norway is going to make do with the T26’s low spec radar and limited air defense capability (by far the worse of all 4 contenders). Somewhat of a mind boggling choice - they’ll be downgrading from mini-AEGIS frigates with SPY-1F to this, especially given the current threat environment, but there you have it…

Also this choice is going to rob the RN of 1-2 T26s for a decade, making Norway’s strategic partner even weaker…

The main focus is on ASW and integration with a close NATO ally... since that close NATO ally turned out to be the UK, T26 it is. Yes air defense is the weak spot of the T26. Norway is in any case too small to operate independently. We need deep integration with the UK, Denmark, and other NATO allies that can provide AAW. Because we will not have much to offer in that regard. Norwegian ASW however should be top notch.

Overall, a good choice, in spite of the severe air defense limitations. Hopefully there will be an upgrade on air defense real soon.

 

[Vivendi]

Nice summary by navalnews: Norway selects British Type 26 frigates - Naval News

 

[H_K]

Or the current drumbeat for the Type 26 could be increased so the RN gets their ships just as they are currently scheduled and the RNoN can start to get ships when they start to need them.

BAE is already trying to increase their production drumbeat to 1 T26 per year by hull #5 (~2032 delivery). There does not appear to be any scope for them to go faster/sooner, so even with some help from Vard potentially building a few basic hull modules, the assembly & fit out bottleneck will remain in the UK (as Vard’s building dock isn’t big enough).

So with the 9th T26 most likely not coming before 2035 - that will be the first net new build - anything before that will just be robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Which is doubly a problem because due to shortsighted design requirements neither is the T26 RN well suited to AAW upgrades (which would require replacing the entire skinny sensor mast with a much more massive and heavy radar structure), nor is the T31 suited to ASW sonar upgrades. So the RN is stuck with a diminished fleet of flawed and not very versatile escorts.

 

[spoz]

A possibility , of course, would be to keep Babcock’s warship building viable, which it won’t be after about 2030 without more orders. Perhaps a couple more T31, or maybe there is actually going to be a T32 in a reasonable time frame. Interesting time are a coming.

 

[swerve]

The main focus is on ASW and integration with a close NATO ally... since that close NATO ally turned out to be the UK, T26 it is. Yes air defense is the weak spot of the T26. Norway is in any case too small to operate independently. We need deep integration with the UK, Denmark, and other NATO allies that can provide AAW. Because we will not have much to offer in that regard. Norwegian ASW however should be top notch.

Overall, a good choice, in spite of the severe air defense limitations. Hopefully there will be an upgrade on air defense real soon.

It can carry longer-range missiles in the Mk41. The limiting factor is probably radar performance. From what I've read, Artisan is reckoned to be good, but is small, with limited range, & is a single faced rotator. Ordering for early delivery probably prevents a new radar initially, but it could be done later.

 

[StobieWan]

Some of type 26's build rate is driven by how fast the customer (HMG) wants to spend money I think - now the production is in full swing, there may be scope for some shortening of the build cycle. This would be normal for serial production - the first hulls always take a bit longer than the subsequent ones as folk are trying to work out how best to plug stuff together.