Publication: Navy Spyglass Issued: Date: 2010-02-01 Reporter:

Transport, support ships on South Africa shopping list

 

Publication 

Navy Spyglass
Date

2010-02-01

 
The South African Navy has revealed its shopping list for the next decade which includes a :
-       strategic transport,
-       a combat support ship,
-       a hydrographic survey vessel together with
-       new patrol vessels.

Navy planners are seeking three offshore patrol vessels (OPV), three inshore patrol vessels (IPV), a hydrographic survey vessel and one strategic support ship as part of the Strategic Capital  Acquisition Master Plan. The patrol vessels and survey ship would be delivered about 2015, the strategic support ship in 2017 and the combat support ship in 2020.

The requirements for the strategic support ship is still being defined although it will probably be a docklanding ship with a large helicopter deck on the lines of the French Mistral or Australian Canberra classes. Some orders had been expected last year but the state arms acquisition agency, Armscor, does not appear to have issued any requests for information or proposals and navy chief Vice Admiral Johannes Mudimu has stressed decisions had to be made  by the government.

The patrol boat programme, Project Biro, calls for replacement of the remaining Warrior class former fast attack craft and the three T Craft at the equivalent of $233.5 million. It is planned to have three OPVs to replace the Warriors, although the two surviving ships were scheduled to pay off last year.

The OPVs are expected to be 80-85 metres long, armed with a 76mm gun and carry a helicopter. The IPVs will have a length of 53-55 metres and be armed with a 30mm gun.

The chief director for maritime strategy, Rear Admiral Bernard Teuteberg, has said the navy is trying to convince its regional partners to purchase similar OPVs. This would reduce unit costs, estimated at the equivalent of $51.9 million for the OPV and $25.9 million for the IPV, as well as operating costs, while the OPV hull will also be used to replace the 38-year-old survey ship SAS Protea in Project Hotel.

The OPVs will also be able to carry autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) acquired as part of Project Mapantsula, the acquisition of a new mine countermeasures system. These AUVs may also be carried aboard the Valour class frigates. These ships are scheduled for midlife upgrades by 2025.

With acknowledgements to Navy Spyglass.


Watch Out. Watch Out.

There'll be some tender entrepreneurs about.

Maybe Schabir Shaik and Julius Malema will split this one right down the middle.