U.K.’s Future Surface Combatant
Program Enters Design Phase
By AMI INTERNATIONAL INC.
London-based BAE Systems has signed a $5.6 million contract with the U.K. Ministry of
Defence (MoD) to begin the design
studies for two of the three surface
platforms that will encompass the
Future Surface Combatant (FSC)
program. The contract covers the
designs for the FSC-C1 destroyer
and the FSC- C2 frigate.
The FSC- C3 portion of the program will be an offshore patrol vessel that will replace current patrol
and mine countermeasures vessels.
The C3 portion will not begin until
after the start of C1 and C2.
The design studies, being conducted by BAE’s BVT Surface Fleet,
now known as BAE Systems Surface
Ships, are likely to culminate around
2011, at which time main gate
approval is expected for both combatant segments of the program.
BAE Systems already has signed a
15-year business agreement with the
MoD to be the lead contractor and
systems integrator until program
completion. BAE now is working
with other key U.K.-based industry
partners — Thales U.K., Babcock
Marine, Qinetiq and BMT Defence
Systems — to develop the business
case and cost model for the life of the
program.
The first combatant (C1 variant)
is tentatively planned to begin construction in 2013 in order to have it
in service by 2019. Projections currently call for 10 units of the FSC-
C1 destroyers and eight units of the
FSC- C2 frigates. These vessels will
replace the current force of Type 22-
and Type 23-class frigates and
remain in service through 2050.
This is the first major surface
combatant construction program
in which the U.K. maritime indus-
try is so intricately involved in the
planning with the MoD from the
beginning, enabling the joint pro-
ject team to develop a better view
of the costs, schedules and design
from the outset.
Indonesia Commissions
First Indigenous LPD
The first landing platform dock ship
(LPD) built in Indonesia for the
Indonesian Navy has been commissioned. KRI Banjarmasin was built at
PT PAL’s yard in Surabaya,
Indonesia, which also is building a
fifth LPD that will be commissioned
into the Indonesian fleet by the end
of the year. The LPD is the largest
naval vessel built to date at PT PAL.
Three earlier LPDs were built at
Dae Sun shipyard in Pusan, South
Korea, and delivered to the sea
service from 2003 through 2007.
The five ships, originally designated as multipurpose hospital
ships, have well decks capable of carrying two utility landing craft and
are able to transport 13 tanks and up
to 500 troops. The vessels cost an
estimated $37.5 million per unit.
Work Begins on
Type 212 Sub Batch II
First steel has been cut at Fincantieri’s Muggiano, Italy, Shipyard on the third unit of the
Todaro- (Type 212A-) class submarine for the Italian Navy. The
unit is the first in the second
batch of Type 212As for the Italian
sea service. Both units of Batch II
will be delivered in 2015 and 2016
and replace the Improved Sauro-class units, Salvatore Pelosi and
Giuliano Prini.
The batch II units were ordered
in August 2008. The first two units
of the class (Batch I), Salvatore
Todaro and Scire, were commissioned in 2005 and 2007.
With units three and four commissioning by 2016, the Italian
Navy either will have to order two
follow-on Type 212A submarines
under a third batch or begin a new
class around 2015 in order to maintain a six-submarine force. The two
remaining units of the Improved
Sauro class, Primo Longobardo and
Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia,
will be at the end of their effective
service lives by 2020.
AMI INTERNATIONAL INC.
The Indonesian Navy recently commissioned KRI Banjarmasin, the first landing platform dock in a five-ship class built in Indonesia. KRI Makassar, shown here, is the
first ship in the class and was built in South Korea, as were two others that preceded KRI Banjarmasin. The final ship in the class also is being built in Indonesia.
