The South African Navy & Marine and Coastal Management: Category Navy

SA Hopes Brazil Will Join Another Missile Project

2008-10-24T11:16:00+00:00

A Brazilian report has stated that South Africa's State-owned defence industrial group Denel is proposing that the Brazilian Navy cooperate with it in the development of the radar-guided version of Denel Dynamics' Umkhonto naval surface-to-air missile (SAM), designated Umkhonto-R. If so, this would parallel the current cooperation between Denel Dynamics and the Brazilian Air Force in the development of the A-Darter air-to-air missile. It is known that Denel is seeking to widen its cooperation with Brazil, with Unmanned Air Vehicles likely to be the next area of partnership. The Brazilian and South African Navies will start high-level staff talks late next month (November) and it is believed that this would provide the ideal opportunity for the South African Navy to lobby the Brazilians to join the Umkhonto-R programme. The original, infrared-homing, version of the Umkhonto, designated Umkhonto-IR, is now in service with the South African and Finnish Navies and is being seriously considered by the Swedish Navy. Radar homing would give the missile greater range. While the slant (as distinct from vertical, or horizontal) range of the Umkhonto-IR is believed to be 14 km, that for the Umkhonto-R would, reportedly, be 20 km. (The Denel Dynamics public brochure for the Umkhonto-IR states "Range: 12 000 m", and gives a ceiling of 8 000 m.)

The South African Department of Defence is, it seems, providing funding for the Umkhonto-R project, but this is not likely to be enough to allow a purely national development of the programme within a reasonable time. (If a weapon system takes too long to develop, it becomes obsolete before it even enters service.) Hence Denel's, and South Africa's, reported desire for a partner.

The engagement sequence for the Umkhonto-IR is as follows: the warship detects a target on its acquisition radar and launches the missile against it; the SAM uses its on-board inertial navigation subsystem to fly itself to a "lock-on point" - the location at which its IR seeker can acquire the target and lock on to it - and then guide itself to interception. However, for the Umkhonto-R, it is reported that, after target detection and missile launch, the SAM would be steered towards the target by commands from the warship, activating its radar seeker when within range, locking on to, and then intercepting, the target.

Unlike the South African navy, the Brazilian Navy already operates radar-guided SAMs, namely the Italian Aspide, with a published range of greater than 15 km. Although the Brazilians rate this as a very good missile, they are, however, merely users of it - they have no mastery of radar-homing technology. Cooperation with South Africa in the Umkhonto-R programme would provide an opportunity for the Brazilians to gain this expertise.

However, there is a potential problem. The Umkhonto (both -IR and -R versions) is designed to use vertical launch systems (VLS) and not traditional trainable launchers.

In a VLS each missile is accomodated in its own silo, and this arrangement has many advantages over traditonal systems, with the result that VLS is being adopted nearly universally for new-build warships. But almost all of a VLS is accomodated below deck, not above deck as with traditional launchers. This requires that the ship have significant internal volume to accomodate the VLS. And Brazil's existing frigates and corvettes do not have the necessary internal volume to host VLS, meaning they cannot carry the Umkhonto. On the other hand, the Umkhonto-R could be fitted to Brazil's bigger ships - the aircraft carrier and four or five amphibious ships - which have plenty of internal volume available. So this is not an automatic deal-wrecker.

The Brazilian Navy has its own research and development agency, the Naval Research Institute (IPqM are its initials in Portuguese). The IPqM is based in Rio de Janeiro and is subordinated to the Navy Science, Technology, and Innovation Secretariat. The Institute has successfully developed weapons and electronic systems that are now in service with the Brazilian Navy, including electronic support measures (ESM), a tactical control system for warships, a monitoring and conmtrol system for ships' engines, a chaff launching system, and sea mines. Projects it is currently working on include an electronic countermeasures (ECM) system, radar absorbing materials, ceramic armour, and an inertial navigation system. The IPqM has close ties with Brazilian industry and would presumably be the lead Brazilian institution in a joint Umkhonto-R programme.

Source: Engineering News

SA Navy has pick of litter for pending projects

2008-10-24T10:21:00+00:00

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.

ThyssenKrupp banks on inside edge for Biro, Millennium

2008-10-24T10:17:00+00:00

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.

Damen to capitalise on SA OPV track record?

2008-10-24T10:15:00+00:00

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.

S Africa warship arrives on first visit to China

2008-10-24T07:24:00+00:00

For the first time over the centuries' old history, a warship from the South African Republic has arrived on a friendly visit to China. According to the local press reports on Friday, Shanghai port met the South African vessel.

The visit is timed to the 10th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Last year, delegations of the two states' Defence Ministries discussed the possibility of such contacts.

Local media reported that Chinese ships have only twice in history reached the South African coast. First time - during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and second - in 2000. However, South African ships have never before visited China.

According to a report of the China Daily newspaper, the first warship from the African continent to visit China docked at Huangpu River port Thursday, ending 600 years of one-way visits.

The SAS Spioenkop with "all religions and races in the new South Africa on board, symbolizes a new transformation in South Africa," Rear Admiral Rusty Higgs said at a welcoming ceremony in Shanghai, according to the report.

"I can feel the excitement of the ship's company. They' ve gone through a long trip and some quite rough weather. I know they are happy to be here," he said. The visit is part of the yearlong celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of China-South Africa diplomatic relations.

A Chinese frigate escorted the Spioenkop into the port. Wu Weihua, chief of staff of the Shanghai Naval Base of the East China Sea Fleet, headed a delegation of military and local officials, and diplomats, to welcome the ship, according to China Daily.

"You've travelled a long distance to bring the friendly greetings of the South African people. We really appreciate it," Wu said.

South African Ambassador to China Ndumiso Ntshinga was also there to welcome the ship.

"A plan to send a South African warship to China was discussed more than a year ago as a way to consolidate relations with China. We also realized that there was a gap in bilateral naval visits," Ntshinga said, the newspaper reported.

"In history, the Chinese twice made voyages to South Africa, one during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the other in 2000, but we never reciprocated the visits," he said.

Source: SAAF Mailing List (17.10.2008)

SA unmanned air-vehicle programme set for take-off

2008-08-29T13:06:00+00:00

South Africa's Denel Dynamics' Bateleur medium-altitude long-endurance(MALE) Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) project looks set to be developed as a joint programme with Brazil. And, in a purely national programme, the company is also developing a new version of its Seeker tactical UAV. Negotiations with Brazil regarding the Bateleur project are already under way, confirms Brazilian Air Force Colonel Nelson Silveira. Colonel Silveira is the Brazilian project officer on the joint South African/Brazilian A-Darter programme - the A-Darter is a fifth generation infrared homing air-to-air missile. He reveals that a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on UAVs was signed between the two countries a year ago.

An initial South African proposal regarding the Bateleur was made to the commander of the Brazilian Air Force in mid-May. The Brazilians are expecting to receive a full proposal, including timeframes and cost estimates, from South Africa in the near future.

This joint UAV project would be modelled on the current joint A-Darter project, which is proving highly successful. Should the project go ahead, as both sides hope, the Bateleur would be acquired by the Brazilian Air Force. It is not yet clear what arm or arms of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) would buy the Bateleur. The South African Air Force has a plan to acquire MALE UAVs, perhaps starting in 2010. Furthermore, the South African Navy is known to be interested in the Bateleur.

The Bateleur concept was developed by Denel four years ago, with a mock-up first displayed in public at the Africa Aerospace and Defence exhibition in Pretoria in 2004.

Then, the company hoped that the UAV would make its first flight in the first half of 2006, but development stalled as a result of a lack of funding. Despite its promise, there was and is simply not the budget to develop the Bateleur as an exclusively South African programme. Finding a foreign partner willing to invest in the development of the aircraft became essential to get the project going again. Hence the importance of the talks with Brazil.

The original conception for the Bateleur included use of existing and proven systems and subsystems from Denel's Seeker II tactical UAV and Skua high-speed target drone, as well as commercial off-the-shelf equipment, in order to keep development costs down. For example, the idea was that the Bateleur would use the same ground control station as the Seeker II. The original specification of the Bateleur included an endurance of 18 to 24 hours, an operational radius of up to 750 km, a maximum altitude above 8 000 m, a maximum cruise speed of 250 km/h, a minimum loiter speed of 120 km/h and a payload mass of 1 t. The UAV would be equipped with a satellite communications system, and would take-off and land on paved runways like a conventional aircraft, but automatically, and would be equipped with a retractable undercarriage. It was conceived to be of modular, composite, construction, and it would have (in its initial version) a wingspan of 15 m. The idea was that a Bateleur could be fitted into a 6 m ISO container.

It is not known how many of these original ideas are, or will remain, valid - for example, a retractable undercarriage adds weight, expense, and complexity, although it should reduce the UAV's radar signature; but is that gain worth the cost? Currently, the world's biggest operational users of UAVs - the Americans, British, and Israelis - are perfectly happy with MALE UAVs with fixed undercarriages; retractable undercarriages are generally confined to high altitude, and to stealth, UAV projects.

Regarding the Seeker tactical UAV, the new model is designated the Seeker 400, and its capabilities will be a considerable advance over those of the current production model, the Seeker II. A foreign country has already expressed its interest in acquiring a the Seeker 400.

To minimise the development risk of the programme, the Seeker 400 uses the same avionics and ground station as the Seeker II. However, while the Seeker II has an endurance of ten hours, the Seeker 400 increases this by six hours to a total of 16 hours. The new model of the Seeker also has the ability to carry more than one payload at the same time, while the Seeker II can carry only one at a time. The Seeker 400 will also be equipped with an aviation-certified engine, with reduced noise levels, that would be manufactured in South Africa. In fact, a key concept underlying the entire programme is that nearly all the components and systems be built in South Africa.

There is currently no indication that the Seeker 400 will be acquired by the SANDF, but like its predecessor, the Seeker II, it will probably be produced for export markets. The Seeker II has proved most successful in the service of overseas clients.

Source: Engineering News

Presidential Fleet Review

2008-08-26T19:14:00+00:00

The South African Navy will host the Presidential Fleet Review on 05 September 2008 in Simon’s Town. The aim of the Fleet Review is to introduce the new South African Navy to the Commander in Chief, President T.M. Mbeki and the people of South Africa.

During the Presidential Fleet Review, the South African Navy will demonstrate its broad range of capabilities to the South African nation to show case its readiness to protect our national interests and sovereign integrity.

A very odd way to buy a submarine

2008-08-12T05:13:00+00:00

The selection of the German Submarine Consortium (GSC) -- led by MAN Ferrostaal -- as a preferred bidder was such a farce that the possibility of corruption has become an almost irresistible inference.

Ferrostaal executive Horst Wereteki this week dismissed the R30million bribe claim as "absolute nonsense" and denied his company paid any bribes to win the contract.

He said Ferrostaal was considering legal action against the Sunday Times, which published the claim last weekend.

However, the German bid did not succeed because its submarine was rated the best compared with those of its rivals, Fincantieri of Italy, DCN of France or Kockums of Sweden.

In fact the military performance results of the evaluation team put GSC last and Fincantieri first.

GSC was pushed to the preferred supplier position by outrageous emphasis given to certain scores in the tender evaluation process.

The first was the weighting accorded to "integrated logistic support" (ILS), something that made up roughly 5% of the total cost of acquiring the submarines.

But this tiny factor was given a 67,5% weighting in the evaluation criteria of military performance, meaning a low quotation for ILS radically distorted the overall score.

Curiously, the ILS cost quoted by the Germans was so low the evaluators did not believe it and arbitrarily increased the quoted cost by 75%. Despite this, GSC still had the lowest ILS cost, which skewed the scoring and made GSC the leader in terms of the overall military performance assessment.

This anomaly has never been explained.

The other factor that helped GSC's bid was the weighting given to the German company's proposed stainless steel plant at Coega, which originally made up 93% of its "industrial participation" or offset offer.

Officials at the Department of Trade and Industry were so enamoured of this project that they assigned a multiplier-weighting of the assessed value of this project of 23, pushing it to 97% of the GSC offset offer, assessed to be worth a massive $239billion.

This amount dwarfed the more modest offset proposals by other bidders. The Coega plant never materialised.

Once again, this extraordinary evaluation process has not been properly investigated, despite the fact that an official who played a key role in the evaluation process was later fired for taking a R55 000 discount on one of the infamous cut-price vehicles offered by another German arms bidder.

Other suspicions fell on the late Joe Modise. The then defence minister "initialled" the contract with GSC shortly before leaving office and long before Cabinet's ministerial committee responsible for the deal had formally approved it.

The "initialling" has been dismissed as purely ceremonial and rumours that Modise received R10million for his efforts have never been substantiated.

Source: Mail & Guardian Online

Another cunning stunt?

2008-08-12T05:06:00+00:00

The SA Navy is going to dedicate its only extensive visit abroad this year to supporting the government's diplomatic relations in China and other eastern countries, at a cost of about R30m. In the past and due to the navy's limited budget, these types of visits usually focused on training and joint exercises with naval allies.

"Strategically seen, the saying is that you keep your friends close and your enemies closer," said military analyst Helmoed-Römer Heitman.

"China is a future colonial power in Africa and it makes sense for South Africa to seek favour now.

This will mean that South Africa will become a client rather than a colony of China in the future.

"This is really the only alternative for South Africa, seeing as it regards the USA as an enemy and Europe as an officious entity in Africa."

Inter-continental ties

Navy spokesperson Captain Lisa Hendricks said one of the navy's brand new frigates, the SAS Spioenkop, will support the government's diplomatic initiatives.

The ship will also visit Vietnam, India, Mauritius and Singapore.

The trip will last from October until December and will deplete most of the navy's budget for these kinds of deployments.

"The aim of the visits is to create inter-continental ties with the East and the Far East and to develop co-operation," Hendricks said.

Source: flyafrica.info

SAS Manthatisi experienced 'normal challenges', says Defence Department

2008-08-12T04:31:00+00:00

South Africa's Department of Defence (DoD) has rejected weekend media reports that its first submarine acquired under the 1999 arms deal had been "plagued by defects since its arrival", arguing that the vessel had simply experienced "normal first-of-class challenges".

The DoD conceded that it had experienced hull-valve challenges, but said that these had been fixed under the manufacturer warranty, and that additional engineering challenges for the entire class would be carried out, as the submarines were optimised for African conditions.

The vessel in question, the SAS Manthatisi, had performed "extremely creditably" since its work-up period, before setting sail from Norwegian waters to South Africa, the Department maintained.

The Sunday Times reported that the boat's snort-mast housing had imploded on its maiden journey to South Africa.

However, the DoD said in an emailed statement that this had happened during the work-up period, before setting sail for the country, and that its crew had averted serious risk through their "high level of training and competence".

It also refuted allegations that there had been irregularities during a battery charging process on the SAS Manthatisi's return to the water in May.

"This is routine procedure as submarine batteries are designed to be charged and discharged on a regular basis," the Defence Department asserted.

Meanwhile, the DoD conceded that the poaching of its scarce skills by the private sector was a challenge, saying that the chief of the Navy and of the Air Force had stated this publicly.

"It is further to be noted that the DoD has some of the best training in the world, and this, together with the discipline associated with the military ethos, means that our young men and women are highly desirable commodities to the private sector," it said.

The Department said that it asked government for the implementation of submarine allowances, which would "greatly assist" with the retention of these individuals.

"Despite this loss of scarce skills, the South African Navy is able to meet all capability requirements as specified in its strategic business plan, and to meet all ordered commitments," the DoD said.

Source: Engineering News