SHAH ALAM: Singapore Defence Ministry on November 20 announced it has signed a contract with German shipbuilder, Fassmer to acquire four OPVs to replace the existing Sentinel-class maritime security vessels.
It said the ships are based on a proven OPV design by the German Federal police. The German Federal Police operates three 86-meter OPVs, Potsdam (BP81), Bamberg (BP82) and Bad Düben (BP83).
The OPVs feature a flight deck that accommodate the Super Puma medium helicopter and have enough storage space for five mission containers. They can also launch and recover two interceptor boats. The ships are armed with a 57mm main gun and machine guns.
Release from Singapore Mindef:
MINDEF has signed a contract with Fr. Fassmer GmbH & Co. KG (Fassmer) to acquire four new Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) to replace the existing Sentinel-class Maritime Security Response Vessels (MSRVs).
The ships are based on a proven OPV design operated by the German Bundespolizei (Federal Police), and are designed with high manoeuvrability to operate in Singapore’s congested waters, and equipped with a suite of lethal and less-lethal capabilities to provide flexibility and calibrated response against a wide spectrum of maritime threats.
The four OPVs will be delivered progressively from 2028 onwards. The MSRVs will remain in operational service until the OPVs are delivered and operationalised.
The release did not say whether the ships will be built in Singapore or Germany. The latter is more likely at least for the first vessel. It also did not say whether the ships will be armed be armed but as RSN has standardised to the Oto-Melara 76mm gun, it is likely to be preferred instead of the 57mm as used by the Germans. It must be noted that Fassmer also has drawing of a heavily armed OPV – equipped with missiles – on its website.
MMEA operates the Bagan Datuk class NGPC, a design derived from Fassmer. A 80 meter design from Fassmer was also offered for the MMEA OPV project but it lost out to the Damen design. MMEA had also specified a Fassmer design mother-ship but the tender got the cancelled.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (50)
Looks like APMM had a good look at this.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_YOGL7a4AA9yUc.jpg
Prefer the much bigger 3-4000ton tae pyung yang OPV for APMM needs. This cost around USD60 million each while being a ship bigger than our Gowind frigates.
They always had a good look. Whether or not money is available is the issue. Yes, I know you mentioned the cost, but it is not you or me who decides what vessels get funded and at what price.
… – “Prefer the much bigger 3-4000ton tae pyung yang OPV for APMM needs”
I prefer a few OPVs displacing around 1,500 tonnes or slightly more but certainly not 3-4,000 tonnes which would be superfluous; not unless we intend on extended patrols or fishery protection in the Aleutians or Marianas.
The MMEA’s NGPC; I always thought the design looks odd; a bit top heavy.
@ marhalim
"but it is not you or me who decides what vessels get funded and at what price"
Of course marhalim, of course.
Its not us who decides, but what I can show to those who can decide of what that can be done, what is available, and at what costs.
Regarding APMM for example, even with the limited budget, there is a lot of things that can be done.
Cost effective ships (compared to what that has been bought previously) could be bought. Build programs could be planned with other national shipbuilding programs, such as PETRONAS Project Safina. Used ships could be bought or acquired for free. There are alternative ways of doing long endurance patrols with low cost, by harnessing wind power for example.
https://www.popsci.com/uploads/2019/03/18/W7SBZLB5B3C524UBCACKCKFJZU.jpg
It is not superfluous, as even Chinese coast guard cutters sailing in malaysian EEZ is of 3,000 tons range.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FhpG-gJUYAAJrjX.jpg
Vietnam coast guard cutters of the ex-Hamilton class is also in the 3,000 tons range
Current APMM OPV
2x Ex-JCG OPV of around 2,300 tons
2x Ex-Musytari OPV of around 1,300 tons
3x DAMEN 1800 OPV of 1,800 tons
Others
6x Kedah class OPV 1,850 tons full load
2x Lekiu class 2,300 tons
2x Kasturi class 1,800 tons (2,100 tons full load)
The NGPC looks top heavy due to the low overall freeboard of the ship. Many new designs have very high freeboard, at least the bows which is like 4-5m high at least (like the damen axe-bow design)
It looks top heavy because they added an extra deck on the main superstructure. When I went on board, the extra deck is mainly for crew quarters and a surau. With the extra deck, the crew of the NGPC goes up to 40 when the original Fassmer design was for only 20 to 22 crew members
Our neighbors seems to get news ships more frequently. Each year there will be additional hulls for their security & defense. Same goes to the Thais, Pinoys & Indonesia. Whille we are still stuck with the increasingly expensive & outdated Lcs. At this point i am beginning to wonder if we ever see one hull commissioned.
The MSRV repurpose was only just a couple of years ago during which the RSN had presented the project including the much touted fender system on the refurb boats. So it appears there wasnt much ROI of this repurpose and they sought for a new design sooner than later to replace those old boats. I wonder will this SG OPV also come with rubber bumpers as well.
It was repurposed for a specific task task which gave - apart from short term capability - them a clue on what should be the next ship. Not much money and effort as the ships were retired ones and most of the equipment were repurposed. A good real world experiment in getting the specifications correct.
... - ''It is not superfluous, as even Chinese coast guard cutters sailing in malaysian EEZ is of 3,000 tons range.''
It actually is and we have discussed it a few times previously; like we have various other things. The reference to Chinese ships is silly [apples to oranges] as they come all the way from Hainan and stay on station weeks end. Prior to their newly constructed reefs; they had no place for shelter or replenishment; had to go back to Hainan - hence the displacement of their ships.
Thanks for the usual links and lists but not always mandatory or necessary to reinforce a narrative.
If you get a chance ask any MMEA people [I have] you meet whether they think they need a ship displacing 3,000 tonnes. They'll tell you of actual requirements and operating costs ...Reality.
... - ''Vietnam coast guard cutters of the ex-Hamilton class is also in the 3,000 tons range''
So? Does that mean - in line with your narrative - that we need something similar? The Vietnamese had no choice did they? They bought a former USCG cutter which was designed for USCG requirements.
Out of topic. Seems likes our LMS is from Turkey
We could do some experiments with our FACs during refits, but unfortunately those are with TLDM and experiments would be more needed for APMM missions.
As for the future batch 2 NGPC, i would prefer it to be a variant of the Damen FCS4008 Patrol, the one built for the Romanian Border Force. No need for UAV launching/retrieval, embrace small crews (and get with 3 crew/2 boats system), have longer patrols.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeE4iXxXgAMzvJe.jpg
There are few similar boats up for sale by Damen and other companies if we want to experiment. Unfortunately, I am not a billionaire with a few million US dollars to spare.
... - “We could do some experiments with our FACs during refits, but unfortunately those are with TLDM”
That moment has passed. We want out of the FAC business; they don’t really provide what we’re looking for and we got them as part of the low mix end as part of a fleet in being.
We should “experiment” with a lot of things but it must be institutionalised and must come with the needed support top down.