Malaysia Becomes DCNS’ 1st Customer for Gowind Ships
Apr 16, 2013 15:27 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
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April 16/13: Naval gun & update. Navy Recognition reports from Malaysia’s Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA 2013) exhibition that BAE has signed a Letter of Award to equip Malaysia’s Gowind ships with their 57mm Mk.3 naval gun, including a stealth cupola housing. Sweden’s Visby Class corvettes already use this combination, but BAE will need to modify the Mk.3 housing slightly, in order to blend better with the Gowind’s exact shaping.
Meanwhile Boustead Heavy Industry Corporation (BHIC) Director of Defence & Security Division director Anuar Murad says that they’re still working on the Letter of Award with the Ministry of Defense for the overall ship, which he refers to as a full frigate that has grown to 3,000t. The ships will be built entirely in Malaysia, and even the combat system will be assembled in Cyberjaya. DCNS will act as Design Authority, and services have been bought for basic design work in France, with Malaysian engineers working alongside them in France to finalize the design. DCNS will also provide advisory services around project management and combat system integration.
Secondary suppliers are already receiving contracts from BHIC, and first-of-class delivery is estimated as 2018-2019, depending on how quickly they can get a contract signed.
Jan 21/13: Sensors. Malaysia buys 12 TMX/EO Mk2 fire control radars and 6 TMEO Mk2 long-range electro-optical surveillance systems for Malaysia’s 6 new “Second Generation Patrol Vessels Littoral Combat Ship” (SGPV LCS) frigates. The order includes spare parts, training, and a transfer of know-how to local industry. Deliveries will begin in in 2015 and continue through to 2020.
The TMX/EO Mk2 is a compact topside X-band or Ku-band radar, and a scalable electro-optical sensor fit (including IR camera, TV camera and laser rangefinder). The radar is able to track steeply attacking targets, even in very rough seas, using a “third axis” approach to rotation. Rheinmetall Defence | Navy Recognition.
(click to view full)
In October 2010, Malaysia’s Boustead received a letter of intent from their government for 6 “second-generation patrol vessels.” In January 2012, South Africa’s DefenceWeb reported that DCNS and its local submarine & surface ship partner, Boustead Naval Shipyard, had won a contract worth $2.8 billion to supply 6 Gowind family ships to Malaysia, which would have been the type’s 1st paid order.
To win, DCNS reportedly beat Dutch firm Damen, whose scalable SIGMA ships have been purchased by neighboring Indonesia; as well as TKMS of Germany, who supplied Malaysia’s 6 existing MEKO 100 Kedah Class Offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) and its 2 Kasturi Class light frigates. Now these Gowind ships’ exact configuration, and equipment set is more certain – and they have grown into full frigates.
The Gowind family isn’t a single design. It’s a family of ships with some common systems and design elements, designed to scale from inshore patrol needs to heavy corvette/ light frigate designs. DCNS has been exploring partnerships with lower-cost foreign shipyards as part of its overall export strategy, and had been negotiating with Bulgaria along those lines. Memoranda now give it footholds in South Africa as well as Malaysia. All Gowind ships are shaped for stealth. The single central mast replaces several sensor masts in other ships, and provides both improved radar cross-section signature, and a 360-degree view for radars and other sensors. The ship’s propulsion system is based on Combined Diesel and Diesel (CODAD), but has no gas exhaust chimney to emit infrared plumes, channeling exhaust into the water-jets instead. Those water jets also create better maneuverability in shallow waters, and contribute to high-speed performance. Gowind Control/120 Designs like FS L’Adroit, on loan to France for 3 years as a promotional exercise, are 1,100t OPVs, with minimal armament. L’Adroit carries only a light autocannon and non-lethal weapons, for instance. Gowind Presence inshore patrol vessels are even smaller. On the other hand, Bulgaria’s interest in Gowind ships involved fully-armed 2,250t Gowind Combat/200 corvettes, carrying 57mm guns, vertical-launch cells, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, and a helicopter up to the 10-ton class. Subsequent reports from Navy Recognition indicated that Malaysia is interested in the Gowind Combat corvettes. Provisional specifications appear to make them the size of small frigates, only slightly smaller than the USA’s Littoral Combat Ship: Length: 111 meters (up from 107) The ship models shown at a recent defense exhibition show a full helicopter hangar, and Boustead Heavy Industry Corporation has said that it will be capable of embarking helicopters up to the size the RMAF’s 12 ordered EC725 Caracal search and rescue/ special forces helicopters. Malaysia’s Navy could also choose to embark any of its 6 AgustaWestland Super Lynx 300 naval helicopters, or 6 Eurocopter AS 350 Fennec light utility helicopters.
The Gowind Family & Malaysia’s Choices
(click to view full)Malaysia’s Gowinds
Breadth: 16 meters
Full load displacement: about 3,000 tonnes (up from 2,730)
Max speed: 28 knots
Crew: 106
Range: 5,000 nm
Endurance: 21 daysKey Sensors
Weapons Array
Pictures from DSA 2012 Defense exhibition in Kuala Lumpur appear to show 12 vertical launch cells, mounted behind the main gun. These will be DCNS’ Sylver family. Sylver A35 cells are the most likely choice, given the ship’s size and expected weapon fit:
- BAE’s 57mm Mk.3 naval gun will be provided in a stealth cupola, courtesy of the BHIC Bofors Asia Sdn Bhd joint venture. Confirmed in 2013.
- MBDA VL-MICA air defense missiles and their ACL containers in the Sylver cells
- 8 of MBDA’s MM40 Exocet Block III anti-ship missiles mounted topside
- 2 of MSI’s remotely operated 30mm guns on top of the helicopter hanger
Contracts & Key Events
click for video
April 16/13: Naval gun & update. Navy Recognition reports from Malaysia’s Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA 2013) exhibition that BAE has signed a Letter of Award to equip Malaysia’s Gowind ships with their 57mm Mk.3 naval gun, including a stealth cupola housing. Sweden’s Visby Class corvettes already use this combination, but BAE will need to modify the Mk.3 housing slightly, in order to blend better with the Gowind’s exact shaping.
Meanwhile Boustead Heavy Industry Corporation (BHIC) Director of Defence & Security Division director Anuar Murad says that they’re still working on the Letter of Award with the Ministry of Defense for the overall ship, which he refers to as a full frigate that has grown to 3,000t. The ships will be built entirely in Malaysia, and even the combat system will be assembled in Cyberjaya. DCNS will act as Design Authority, and services have been bought for basic design work in France, with Malaysian engineers working alongside them in France to finalize the design. DCNS will also provide advisory services around project management and combat system integration.
Secondary suppliers are already receiving contracts from BHIC, and first-of-class delivery is estimated as 2018-2019, depending on how quickly they can get a contract signed.
Jan 21/13: Sensors. Malaysia buys 12 TMX/EO Mk2 fire control radars and 6 TMEO Mk2 long-range electro-optical surveillance systems for Malaysia’s 6 new “Second Generation Patrol Vessels Littoral Combat Ship” (SGPV LCS) frigates. The order includes spare parts, training, and a transfer of know-how to local industry. Deliveries will begin in in 2015 and continue through to 2020.
The TMX/EO Mk2 is a compact topside X-band or Ku-band radar, and a scalable electro-optical sensor fit (including IR camera, TV camera and laser rangefinder). The radar is able to track steeply attacking targets, even in very rough seas, using a “third axis” approach to rotation. Rheinmetall Defence | Navy Recognition.
Oct 25/12: A report from Euronaval says the contracts remain unfinalized, though DCNS CEO Patrick Boissier tells Lignes de defense that the existing Letters of Attribution have value even so. The project is expected to take place over 10 years or so, with a number of arrangements to finalize for production in Malaysia and in France. Lignes de defense [in French].
April 20/12: Navy Recognition personnel at the DSA 2012 Defense exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia look at a Gowind model, and talk to an official from Boustead about the ships’ expected statistics and fit-out. See above for the ships’ expected fit-out, and see the article for pictures of the model.
The official added that, contra earlier reports, contract negotiations are still in progress. Navy Recognition | DCNS re: its exhibits.
Jan 17/12: DefenceWeb reports Malaysia’s selection of DCNS’ Gowind ships for a $2.8 billion contract. Deliveries are expected to run from 2017-2020, if all goes well.
The DefenceWeb report is very unclear concerning the exact type and fit-out for these ships, except to state that the shipbuilders wanted DCNS’ SETIS combat management system, while the Royal Malaysian Navy wants the Thales Tacticos systems already on one of Malaysia’s Kasturi Class light frigates. It did not state how this conflict was resolved.
