The delivery of the first piece of military hardware bought as part of the multi-million-rand defence procurement package, a corvette, will probably be delayed by six months.

The initial delivery date of the SAS Amatola, one of four corvettes ordered by the: SA Navy, was scheduled for next month, then postponed until February. The vessel will probably now only arrive in May.

It was supposed to be fitted out in South Africa with weapons and electronic systems by Thales Naval of France and the African Defence Systems Consortium. The ship was also to undergo sea trials and other, tests before becoming operational by 2005.

However, that has been put on hold as the Amatola is still in the Hamburg shipyard of Blohm & Voss "because they have discovered some problems".

South African National Defence Force spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Kirstein yesterday referred all questions to Blohm & Voss, saying the corvettes did not yet belong to the SANDF,

The Company failed to respond to questions at the time of going " to press.

It is not certain how the delay will affect the Navy, which has described its existing equipment as "ageing, unreliable and difficult to maintain".

The Department of Defence strategic plan states: "The SA Navy's ability to prepare and maintain specific specialist systems is also diminishing. These have been partially addressed. However this cannot continue indefinitely."

The report states that the problems "will largely be resolved by the acquisition of the corvettes and submarines through the Defence Package".

Meanwhile, Armscor chief executive Sipho Thomo said he was concerned about the Pretoria High Court's order this month in favour of Cape Town defence contractor Richard Young.

Young had argued there were irregularities in the award of a tender for information management systems to be used in the four corvettes, and requested the team investigating the arms deal to provide documents relating to the contract.

Thomo said he believed Armscor would be taken to court to explain its actions during the procurement process.

With acknowledgement to the Cape Argus.