Thanks for sharing this article on the Endurance 170 design that competed to meet UAE’s requirements in 2017 —
ST Marine teamed up with local UAE shipyard ADSB to propose an LHD design to the UAE Navy. This design did not win a contract.
There is slim to zero chance of Malaysia or Indonesia adopting this design. The Indonesians will support their local industry designs.
The Malaysians under Dr M have needlessly engaged in multiple acts of hostility. For background, on 25 Oct 2018, Malaysia unilaterally and arbitrarily extended the Johor Bahru Port Limits. This is over and above Malaysia’s 1979 map that extended the boundary lines of Malaysian territorial waters to both the east and west of Singapore, and intruded on Singapore’s port limits. Apart from the fact that Singapore has never accepted their 1979 territorial claims, the Oct 2018 purported extension of the Johor Bahru Port Limits goes beyond what even Malaysia itself claimed as its territorial waters. Out of the blue, Malaysia is claiming these territorial waters that belong to Singapore. On 5 Nov 2018, Singapore issued a Third Person Note (TPN) via demarche. Singapore also issued a second TPN via demarche on 29 Nov 2018 to protest the Port Circular and Notice to Mariners.
Airspace management over southern Johor also came into the spotlight on 4 Dec 2018, after Singapore and Malaysia traded conflicting views over the issue. Under the current arrangement, management of the airspace over southern Johor is delegated to Singapore, meaning that Singapore provides air traffic control services in that airspace. This arrangement was agreed upon in 1973 by Malaysia, Singapore and other regional states, and subsequently approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). A bilateral agreement was then signed between Malaysia and Singapore in 1974. As expected, Malaysia says it now wants to reclaim this "delegated airspace." Some Malaysian politicians in power are testing for resolve and think that they can win as hostile neighbours. Bersatu are mistaken to think that they can unify Malaysia by making enemies of their neighbours and their failure at governance must be shown up. As such, Dr M will not consider buying naval vessels from Singapore (as he needs to rally Malaysians an imagined external threat).
This topic was discussed a while ago in this thread — the RFI is likely to be much later. But I caution that while the JMMS requirement from Singapore is firm, but the size of the ship and fitting out details have yet to be defined. Currently, ST Marine have started design work on the MRCV (likely based on the Vanguard 130 design) which is the project on hand — the aim is to have the first ship in the water by the end of 2025.
Beyond technical considerations, at this stage there are strategic ones (eg. alignment of National Interests, enhancing navy to navy relations for training and support following from a down-select of a 2030 design and what would be ‘given’ free under existing defence agreements). This includes the Enhanced Partnership was launched through a Joint Declaration by PM Jacinda Ardern and PM Lee Hsien Loong in May 2019. If ST Marine is able to win the NZDF contract in the mid-2020s for an additional sealift vessel as required under DCP 2o19 (likely based on the JMMS design, which could be based on the Endurance 160 or 170 design), they may have a chance to bid for the replacements for the ANZAC class.
Let me extract parts of the 2019 DCP, below for ease of reference:
“....Recognising the high value of sealift to humanitarian and disaster relief, and the sustain-ment of deployed forces, in the mid-2020s an additional sealift vessel will be acquired.
Operating alongside HMNZS Canterbury, this acquisition will provide two sealift vessels, and will greatly improve the effectiveness of the Defence Force, and the resilience of the nation, and the region.
- The enhanced sealift vessel will have greater lift capacity than HMNZS Canterbury. The capability will provide a highly flexible military asset, including hospital facilities, planning spaces, and self-defence capabilities. It will also provide support for the deployment of a range of capabilities, including Special Forces, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and NH90 helicopters. The enhanced sealift capability will also improve the New Zealand Defence Force’s amphibious operations. Through the provision of a well dock, it will be able to conduct operations in a wider range of sea conditions, and will have the size and capacity to carry large equipment, and sufficient aviation capacity to allow extended, long duration operations. Its size will also provide for the transport of a larger number of personnel, allowing for the value of the increased size of the New Zealand Army to be realised.
Use the above post by ngatimozart to go page 347 for the prior discussion. Really excited that it is possible for ST Marine to compete and possibly meet this requirement for the NZDF; and to be given an opportunity to deliver further customization according to needs.
