The SA Navy has the attention of the shipyards of the Western world – and India – for its future requirements.

The seaward service currently has a range of registered requirements to complete the rejuvenation of the fleet started by the 1999 Strategic Defence Package.

Project Sitron saw the Navy receive four German-built Meko A200SAN Valour-class frigates at a cost of R9.65 billion (2007 Treasury figure) and three Type 209 1400 MOD Heroine-class diesel-electric submarines were acquired under Project Wills for R5.354 billion.

Sitron replaced the British-built Type 12 President-class antisubmarine frigates, the last of which was pensioned off in 1985 and Wills the Daphne class submersibles finally retired in 2003.

Known current requirements include

· Project Biro: A new class of multipurpose offshore patrol vessels (OPV) to replace three types of obsolescent ships currently in use for minesweeping, minehunting and offshore patrolling;

· Project Hotel: A new survey ship to replace the 36-year-old SAS Protea;

· Project Millennium: One or two “strategic support ships”, a completely new capability for the SA Navy, to support national foreign policy, peacekeeping and humanitarian intervention; and

· Project Xena: A new class of 15 10.3m inshore patrol vessels and a command & control system for the Operational Boat Squadron of the Maritime Reaction Force (MRF), the Navy’s budding amphibious capability.

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German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) is hoping to capitalise on its previous success with the SA Navy to gain the advantage in bidding for the sea service’s upcoming requirement for a strategic support ship and a new class of offshore patrol vessels (MM OPV).

TKMS have in the last decade supplied SA with four state-of-the-art MEKO A200SAN frigates and three sophisticated Type 209 littoral submarines. Bernd Wölfer, the company’s vice president for sales says the commonality between the frigates and their offering for the strategic support ship (Project Millennium) and the MM OPV (Project Biro) could be persuasive.

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Damen Shipyards have an established track record delivering patrol craft to SA. It built the 82.9m environmental offshore patrol vessel (OPV) Sarah Baartman for the Department of the Environment and Tourism (DEAT) at its Romanian yard in 2003 and supervised the construction of three smaller, 46m, inshore patrol vessels for the same department at Farocean Marine in Cape Town.

That yard is now Damen Shipyards Cape Town and the Dutch group is hopeful that is sufficient pedigree to win the bid to build a new class of multi purpose OPVs for the SA Navy. Reports suggest an order of between six and 12 vessels (likely ten) next year under the project name “Biro.” Exports to other regional navies are also suggested.

Read more at: DefenceWeb