06.09.2004, 18:16
Aus Warships International Fleet Review September Issue:
Zitat:New Frigate for Greece
The Greek Ministry of Defence has announced that its future corvette programme has been cancelled in favour of a new class of frigates. Of the seven companies involoved in the design and construction of the 1800 tonnes corvette-sized vessels which responded to the Request for Information (RfI), only three comlied with the specifications: Blohm & Voss, Gibbs and Cox and VT Shipbuilding. During the preparation of the final specification for tender, all three companies informed the Hellenic Navy that it was not possible to meet the navy's requirements in a 1800 tonnes vessel.
This forced the HN toi cancel the short-list.
The HN Chief of Navy, Admiral Antoniadis, proposed the three down-selected bidders should be included in the bidders list for the frigate programme.
However, the ministry decided against this recommendation, awarding the programme to the Greek shipyard Elefsis with cooperation from Vosper Thonrycroft, to avoid an international tender. It is expected though that an international tneder will be released. More than likely an experienced consortium will be selected. Some of the other candidates and designs that may be proposed include: Schelde Shipbuilding LCF, Blohm & Voss F124 or MEKO 500; IZAR/Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen, Amaris/Orizzonte FREMM. A RfP is not anticipated before 2006 with a construction contract possibly by 2007. Up to six
new frigates are expected to be built under this new programme.