The new ASW frigates may be deployed for a number of duties; nonetheless, the emphasis will likely be on anti-submarine warfare. [Image: Damen]
The Dutch Ministry of Defense, Damen and Thales have signed acontract for the design, development, and supply of 4 Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) frigates; two for the Netherlands and two for Belgium. The settlement was signed on HNLMS Karel Doorman, one of many present Karel Doorman Class multipurpose frigates that the ASW frigates will exchange.
The new frigates may be deployed for a number of duties; nonetheless, the emphasis will likely be on anti-submarine warfare. The ships may have hybrid diesel-electric propulsion and will likely be designed to sail as quietly as attainable to decrease the chance of detection by submarines. On board will likely be a complete suite of sensors to detect submarines.
“This is a wonderful project and a special new chapter for our Damen Naval division,” mentioned Damen Shipyards Group CEO Arnout Damen. “We are proud to be building these beautiful frigates and look forward to working with the many, mostly Dutch, partners and suppliers on this project. With these launching customer projects, we retain vital knowledge in our own country and thus maintain our place in the world’s top tier of complex naval construction. More importantly, the crews of the Dutch and Belgian navies get state-of-the-art frigates to carry out their crucial tasks.”
The undertaking is a joint operation with the Dutch Ministry of Defense, with a number of the work to be carried out by the ministry itself.
“We have almost 150 years of knowledge, skill, and technology to coordinate and execute the design and construction of complex naval vessels,” mentioned Arnout Damen. “This is done not only in the Netherlands, but also at our yard in Romania, where the hulls will be partly constructed.”
The hulls will go to Damen Naval in Vlissingen, Netherlands for completion, the set up and integration of weapon methods and, finally, commissioning for deployment to the Belgian and Dutch navies.
The frigates will measure 145 meters in size, with an 18-meter beam. They may have a draft of 5.5 meters at a displacement of 6,400 tonnes. On board, there will likely be room for a 117-strong crew and capability for extra personnel to sail with them.
Among different issues, the ASW frigates will likely be geared up with an Under Water Warfare Suite (UWWS), an Above Water Warfare System (AWWS) and underwater decoys.
They will likely be armed with a 76 mm gun, MK54 torpedoes, rolling airframe missiles (RAM) and the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM). The frigates may also accommodate different weapons, equivalent to extra highly effective missiles and High Energy Lasers. There are additionally unmanned craft and plane on board to be used on and below water in addition to within the air.
THALES SOLUTIONS
Thales will ship the AWWS fireplace management cluster. This constantly generates the perfect resolution for every approaching menace in each atmosphere. The cutting-edge warfare suite helps the ship’s crew to counter and neutralize high-velocity and complicated saturation assaults by constantly analyzing and optimizing the tactical atmosphere and deployment of assets. This built-in radar and fireplace management system combines the knowledge from a number of sensors, together with radars.
This is the second contract for Thales’ AWWS fireplace management cluster after the German F126 class frigates contracted in 2020. Deployment of this frequent fireplace management cluster in three West European navies will facilitate worldwide cooperation in operations and in logistics.
The new sensor suite makes use of Thales’ newest know-how primarily based on the APAR Block 2 X-band and the SM400 Block 2 S-band radars built-in in a one-radar system that is ready to reconfigure its duties dynamically.
In addition to AWWS, Thales will provide the Mirador Mk2 electro-optical fireplace management sensor, the Gatekeeper Mk2 electro-optic statement sensor, the Scout Mk3 low detectability naval surveillance radar in addition to an in depth logistic help bundle.
Thales says that the frigates want to have the ability to independently defend themselves and different models with a state-of-the-art fireplace management system as above water threats are exponentially growing in complexity, coordination and velocity. Thales says that its methods are cyber-protected by design a will defend the Dutch and Belgium frigates from refined threats equivalent to hypervelocity missiles and swarm assaults.
FIRST DUTCH SUPPLIER
The first Dutch provider contracted for the ASW frigates by Damen Naval is RH Marine. It will provide the Integrated Mission Management System (IMMS), the Integrated Navigation Bridge System (INBS) and the Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS) for every frigate.
“One of our objectives is that we want to share the enormous knowledge accumulation we gain from this kind of high-quality, launching customer project with as many Dutch suppliers as possible. This way, the Netherlands maintains its place in the world’s top tier of complex naval construction and strengthens our position within existing and new European partnerships,” mentioned Damen Naval’s managing director, Roland Briene. “This contract with RH Marine is an excellent example of that. We have been working closely together for many years and once again I am looking forward to a great project with a wonderful end result.”
The methods equipped by RH Marine are primarily based on the most recent cybersecurity, community, and information heart know-how, on which RH Marine’s next-generation platform automation, bridge and mission administration functions will run. The methods will permit the ship to function with a smaller crew, with a a lot larger and smarter diploma of automation supporting them.
RH Marine’s IPMS system makes use of Industrial Internet Of Things (IIoT) connectivity, which supplies the platform flexibility in connection and configurability. This connectivity additionally offers the power to retailer large quantities of knowledge from related methods and sensors. Analysis of those information can be utilized to enhance operational processes and help predictive upkeep.
