The South African Navy & Marine and Coastal Management: Tag Meko A200

R860m defence offset for local manufacturers

2007-11-17T13:25:00+00:00

The South African Navy's acquisition of four new ThyssenKrupp frigates has allowed South African manufacturers to benefit from supply and maintenance contracts worth R860-million, through the Defence Industrial Participation (Dip) programme.

The State arms acquisition agency, Armscor, said on Thursday that the Dip programme on the Navy's frigate platforms had now been completed. The offset related only to the platforms and not the combat systems, which were installed in South Africa with high local content.

Companies benefiting from Dip contracts for the naval vessels are DCD Dorbyl, Bennett's Engineering, Titanium Industries, Booyco Engineering, Siemens Cape Town, and MTU Cape Town.

These companies supplied significant elements of the frigates' electrical, diesel, high-tech exhaust and integrated platform management systems, superstructures and mast modules, refrigeration and ventilation plants, gearboxes and hydraulic power units.

Skills and technology transfer were also essential in the programme, to ensure that the frigates and their key systems could be maintained in South Africa by South Africans, thereby securing relevant shipbuilding skills and engineering skills more broadly for the country.

The companies involved have also won additional business valued at almost R49-million as a result of the quality of their work on the South African frigates.

The Dip programme, under the strategic defence acquisition programme, required defence manufacturers supplying South Africa to source components and systems from local manufacturers, assemble essential elements locally, and transfer skills and technologies to local partners, as a way of assisting local manufacturers to integrate into the global economy.

Armscor is responsible for monitoring Dip performance, and the Department of Trade and Industry monitors the separate civilian component of the programme known as National Industrial Participation.

The South African Navy has taken four Valour-class MEKO A-200-SAN frigates into full service, following the commissioning of the fourth ship, the SAS Mendi, in Port Elizabeth in March this year.

Source: Engineering News

Reworked content: Valour class article with new picture

2007-06-23T09:11:00+00:00

Drawings of all current MEKO 200 designs have been added to the Valour class article.

Drawings of current Meko A200 class vessels - Image: MConrads (from photobucket.com)

Valour Class Frigate Upgrades Under Way

2007-06-04T20:40:00+00:00

According to Jane's, the SAN has begun implementing elements of a planned upgrade path, with all four Valour class frigates receiving the radar element for the optronic tracker, a second forward-looking infrared sensor for both trackers, a laser-warning system, a small taskforce commander operations room and two 12.7 mm Rogue remotely operated close-in weapons.

Has SA invested in weak ships?

2007-02-24T14:14:00+00:00

Serious questions have been raised over the strike capability of the expensive new ships of the South African Navy (SAN). A new independent study claims they are vulnerable to attack from submarines, aircraft and warships, and have little ability to perform the key role of gunboat diplomacy through offshore bombardment.

These critiques emerge from an unpublished and unauthorised manuscript on the South African National Defence Force, A Guide to the SANDF, by defence analyst Leon Engelbrecht. It is the first study of the armed forces in 16 years.

Engelbrecht argues that the four new Valour-class frigates and three new Type 209 submarines are too light in their weapons and defencive counter-measures departments. This is the part of South Africa's multibillion-rand arms deal currently proving most controversial - because of an alleged $3-million (about R21-million) bribe paid by the frigate's builders, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, to former arms acquisition programme head Chippy Shaik.

Content back: Valour class

2006-12-10T20:29:00+00:00

First major article is back: Patrol Corvettes: Valour (MEKO 200 SAN) class

Navy takes delivery of new ship

2006-02-17T20:10:00+00:00

The South African Navy's Captain David Jamieson on Thursday took command of SAS Amatola, a state-of-the-art frigate delivered into the hands of the SANDF and then the Navy from the South Africa-European consortium that built it.

The brand new fighting ship, said to be the most advanced warship in the world today, is the first ship to be designed to the particular needs of the South African Navy, says Rear Admiral Johnny Kamerman, the director of Project SITRON, under which another three "Frigates Small Guided", also known as Corvettes, are to be delivered to the Navy.

SA Navy changes Valour class designation from Patrol Corvette to Frigate

2006-01-25T08:19:00+00:00

The SA Navy is quietly changing the designation of its Valour-class Meko A200SAN ships from "patrol corvette" to "frigate". The Navy website, www.navy.mil.za, already reflects the change. The former class designation has come under persistent attack as the Valours are slightly larger than the Australian ANZAC class of frigates -- also a Meko 200 design, albeit of a more conventional design.