(Europa) The Royal Navy

[Rob]

Die Royal Navy bekommt wahrscheinlich ein River class batch 2 für OPV(H).Es wird 2 Castle class OPVs ersetzen.

VT GROUP COMMENCES NEGOTIATIONS FOR NEW OFFSHORE PATROL VESSEL

VT Group plc has commenced negotiations with the Ministry of Defence for the construction of a new 80 metre Offshore Patrol Vessel (Helicopter) for the Royal Navy following the Ministry’s assessment of competitive bids from a number of companies.


The ship will be built to VT’s account, handed over in September 2006 and chartered to the MoD for an initial period until March 2012. It will be manned and operated by the Royal Navy.

The programme is expected to be worth an initial total of around £30 million, under a Public-Private Partnership arrangement, with the potential for this to increase if the charter is extended.

The 80m ship will replace the RN’s two existing Castle Class offshore patrol vessels and will carry out the role of Falkland Islands Patrol Vessel. VT will also be responsible for providing a full Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) service to maintain the ship so that she is available for sea for more than 300 days a year. By utilising modern automated equipment and commercial maintenance practices, VT will guarantee the availability with a single ship, compared to the two currently needed to provide the same availability.

VT Group Chief Executive Paul Lester commented: “This programme will provide a significant boost to our shipbuilding throughput at Portsmouth, supplementing the work that we are carrying out on the Type 45 destroyer. It also underlines the success of the PPP model that we have introduced on the initial River Class ships.”

The new design will be based on the River Class, which were built by VT and are currently under charter to the MOD. The ‘Batch 2’ River Class will be enhanced with a helicopter deck capable of accepting helicopters up to the size of the new Merlin aircraft, and surveillance radar.

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