frigate from French shipbuilder
DCNS. The deal was struck as part of
a $1 billion military cooperation deal
agreed to by France and Morocco
during French President Nicolas
Sarkozy’s visit in October.
The deal included the sale of
one new construction frigate for
around $712 million, with the
remainder coming in the form of
the modernization of the Moroccan Air Force’s 25 SA-330 helicopters and the Army’s 140 French-built armored vehicles.
Although no timeline has been
published for the acquisition of
the frigate from DCNS, it likely
will take at least a year to work out
the contract details as well as fine
tune the capabilities package to
match the Moroccan Navy’s requirements. A finalized contract
could be in place by early 2009,
with delivery in 2013. The Moroccan frigate will be the first
FREMM exported, after the first
27 units were designated for the
French and Italian navies.
Libya May Seek
Croatian OPVs
Libya and Croatia are in the initial
stages of developing a naval vessel
procurement relationship. In 2004,
Libya issued a request for proposal
for 10 patrol boats for the Libyan
Coast Guard. The Croatian-based
Adria-Mar Co. beat out offers from
France, Italy, China, Spain and the
United Kingdom to construct the
10 vessels.
The first two PV30-LS-class
patrol boats were delivered in May
2006. The third unit was delivered
early this year, and three more will
be delivered by the end of the year.
In October, sources indicated that
Libya would soon begin plans to
acquire up to four OPVs for the Coast
Guard and two corvettes for the Libyan Navy. It appears Libya is so
pleased with the PV30-LS patrol
boats that officials decided to investigate a modified 62-meter corvette
design for the Coast Guard and Navy.
If, in fact, Libya and Croatia
come to terms on the acquisition
for new corvettes, there will likely
be two distinct variants offered,
one for the Coast Guard and one
for the Navy. ■
AMI International Inc., Bremerton,
Wash., is an international consulting
and naval intelligence services company
located on the Web at www.amiinter.com
