In October 2010, Malaysia’s Boustead received a letter of intent
from their government for 6 “second-generation patrol vessels.” Now
South Africa’s DefenceWeb reports
that DCNS and its local submarine & surface ship partner, Boustead
Naval Shipyard, have won a contract worth $2.8 billion to supply 6
Gowind family ships to Malaysia, which will be the type’s 1st paid
order. Deliveries are expected to run from 2017-2020, if all goes well.
To win, DCNS reportedly beat Dutch firm Damen, whose scalable SIGMA ships
have been purchased by neighboring Indonesia; as well as TKMS of
Germany, who supplied Malaysia’s 6 existing MEKO 100 Kedah Class OPVs
and its 2 Kasturi Class light frigates. What’s less certain so far is
the Gowind ships’ exact configuration, and equipment set…
The Gowind family
isn’t a single design. It’s a family of ships with some common systems
and design elements, designed to scale from inshore patrol needs to
heavy corvette/ light frigate designs. DCNS has been exploring
partnerships with lower-cost foreign shipyards as part of its overall
export strategy, and had been negotiating with Bulgaria along those
lines. Memoranda now give it footholds in South Africa as well as Malaysia.
Gowind Control/120 Designs like FS L’Adroit,
on loan to France for 3 years as a promotional exercise, are 1,100t
offshore patrol vessels, with minimal armament. L’Adroit carries only a
light autocannon and non-lethal weapons, for instance. Gowind Presence
inshore patrol vessels are even smaller.
On the other hand, Bulgaria’s interest
in Gowind ships involved fully-armed 2,250t Gowind Combat/200
corvettes, carrying 57mm guns, vertical-launch cells, anti-aircraft and
anti-ship missiles, and a helicopter up to the 10-ton class.
The DefenceWeb report is very unclear concerning Malaysia’s choice,
except to state that the shipbuilders wanted DCNS’ SETIS combat
management system, while the Royal Malaysian Navy wants the Thales
Tacticos systems already on one of Malaysia’s Kasturi Class light
frigates. It did not state how this conflict was resolved.
* Notícia publicada a DID. La ràpida adaptació de la indústria naval francesa als nous requeriments del segle XXI és tot un exemple a seguir.
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