river class opv upgrade

Now for the reason of my question about the crane if it is a bolt on or not. So OPV plus to fight non state actors, do wide area surveillance and contribute to protection of merchant shipping. I’d fit the Martlet option for higher threat environments (east of Suez). – Although both systems have a variety of sensor types, its carrying capacity means the Camcopter has the superior set of sensor/payload options, including light missiles. The 40mm seems a given. I believe Sir Humphrey will say never over my dead body! Hosting a UAV in the alternative position would complete the package. The main issue it has though, is it’s not really designed for engagement tracking i.e. With more major work it might just be possible to add a permanent hangar. Thanks. Enhancing the OPVs in a modest way makes sense but equipping them to corvette standard would appear to be an unnecessary luxury. This is probably the best recommendation of the whole thread. It would make far more sense imo for us to set up a nationwide organisation to enforce fisheries protection rather than use the Royal Navy for this job. Why not retire 2-3 frigates now allowing us to fully man our remaining ships and use the money saved from their operation and refurb to upgrade the Rivers? ( Log Out /  It’s who runs out first that looses. I would point out that PNG PPB mk 1 (30.5m 162t patrol boat) has similar armament. Some friends are getting married, and it’s a full church do. The Baden-Württemberg-class frigates have water cannons, which is a good non-lethal way to deal with pirates. So I guess the big question is – why? That’s what Cdr FPS was hinting at. The OPVs will never be used in significant warfighting but they could become a little more deadlier agains their intended targets by reusing existing equipment. Cost of retaining 4 Type 23 (they just got midlife upgrades if I remember correctly) I do not know. Uparming noisy diesel-powered Rivers though and sending them anywhere where there’s likely to be subs and they’ll be sitting ducks. This little UAV is proven and used by a number of Navy’s around the World, even by the Russian coastguard. Both are small helicopters and would probably need a hangar. It can also fire the ORKA self-guided round which is a highly accurate one-shot-one-kill round for use against air and surface threats. This will give RN with 6 T45, 9 T26 (all fully manned), 4 T31-light, 5 River B2 (EEZ) (River B1 will be disbanded by then). Save the Royal Navy looks at how they might be upgraded. As a light SSM with a 25-30km range it could fire to port or starboard. – ScanEagle is lightweight with a payload capacity of 3.5kg. Despite their adoption by many second-tier navies, they are seen as having much of the cost associated with high-end vessels but lack the protection and full spectrum capability of frigates. The .40 Is a proven weapon and seems the most feasible from a money standpoint. Wouldn’t the 5in gun and the Mk41 be more relevant on the T31? This site has no official endorsement by the Royal Navy or MoD. I think a 19-escort fleet can have 4 unmanned hulls (in long maintenance). As some have already said, I would be hesitant to put too much money into the B2s. HMS Spey, the fifth and final River Class Batch 2 Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV), departed BAE Systems’ shipyard in Glasgow on her delivery voyage to her new home of Portsmouth Naval Base. 90m Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) BAE Systems is building a new class of five 90m offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) for the second batch of the British Royal Navy’s River-class ships. The whole strategy & design of the IH frigate was to get the most for the least. The “very light T31” significantly overlaps with “up armed River B2”, so there is no need to up-arm the latter. Adding a more sophisticated radar, an enlarged operations room and soft-kill missile countermeasures start to make for a credible small combatant. The combat capability of these ships could be considerably enhanced in a hurry and for not much money. You get what you pay for. The safety requirements were non-negotiable add-ons to the design. This is the reason I suggested the NS110. Note the fire-control radar for the 76mm gun and the soft-kill decoy launchers forward of the bridge. With long range AShM, no need to – fire your missiles & head off for a reload. My one suggestion would be an 8-cell Spike NLOS Naval launcher that, with the UAVs, would give offensive punch to 30 kilometres. Air burst is the poor mans indirect fire, something the 40mm is capable of. Would something like NS110 really be necessarily? The Bofors 57mm Mk 110 Mod 0 gun is also going to be introduced to the RN onboard the Type 31. They have the three River class Batch I OPVs to do fisheries around the home turf, so they plan to use most of these in the overseas territories or providing presence in distant theaters of operation. Save the Royal Navy looks at how they might be upgraded. The Martlet LMM probably should be added to whatever 30 mm guns are mounted. https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2020/february/05/200205-puma. In fact it would be pretty dumb. Type 23s need more crew than either replacement. Adding a medium calibre gun and helicopter hangar would bring the river class more in line with many foreign OPV designs. You then have an OPV that is still an OPV but with bigger teeth. I still wonder how secure the Type 31 program is. I’d also want some kind of anti-air missiles on board, preferably fitted in ADL launchers that can be replenished at sea. With the RN set to have an increased global presence, circumstances could arise where a B2 is the nearest UK response to a rapidly developing situation. The Starstreak HVM accelerates to Mach 4+ in just over a second after leaving its tube. Here are some ideas: https://www.airbus.com/helicopters/military-missions/naval.html. This not to suggest a reduction in T26. Once VLS is there it can be armed up quite quickly. Same goes for anti-ship missiles. I’d hope to find somewhere that I could put a UAV into, something with similar capabilities to the latest Scan Eagle variants that the Australians are using with the wide area search and track system. As the Falklands war showed, operating 1,000+t ships close to shore is not a good idea if the opposition has anti-armour or artillery weapons. The Fire Scout MQ-8B is 30 times the cost of the S-100, 9 times the weight, and it won’t fit in a 20′ container. Would I like to sea a Wildcat with hanger and a 57mm gun and 8 NSMs or RBS 15s, yes but that combination is to expensive for what you get. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Type 31 has no CAMMs at all once it’s built so it can come in on budget. I did look at SPIKE NLOS but discarded it due to its requirements although I do like the Typhoon mount, I also looked at Minstrel but discarded that due to range and technical needs. Equally send them anywhere where they are likely to be targetted by anti-ship missiles and I can’t see them surviving for long. The C2 flotilla would operate on a “single platform, double crew concept” – ships would be forward deployed but crews, as they do now in the MCMV fleet would rotate – all training completed in Plymouth through FOST. I know how B2 came to be. I think we need to be more concerned about the 31 and the 26 and their loadouts and capabilities. These Frigates would do the Home waters shadowing of passing Russian ships etc. The RN recently tested a 30mm cannon with a 5-cell missile pannier added to launch the Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM), known as Martlet and up to 20 will soon be carried by the Wildcat helicopter. But they are equipped more like a 210. Out of all the possible enhancements touted i think container stored and operated UAV’s would make a lot sense as a relatively cheap but fantastically effective way of extending the vessels surveillance radius and persistence without the need for helicopter’s and hangars. I use to work in the USCG and our OPV’s which are the 270 medium Endurance cutters have a 76mm Main deck gun. If it is a bolt on it means that it is mounted on a strengthend deck and relitivly easy to remove. You could run two S-100s off a River with no real problem, but an MQ-8 at around half the price of a Merlin would be a considered purchase. I don’t understand why the Royal Navy is messing about with Puma, a 7kg fixed wing with limited sensors and a flight ceiling of a few hundred feet. Much as a I have thought / known / experienced for the last 30 years then! 16 quad packed CAAM gives you 64 more missiles. I’m not including a dedicated anti-air weapon/missile system as that would push the ship into the realms of a proper corvette and costs nearing the T31. It has a number of advantages over IR or RF guided missiles in that it is next to impossible to jam. The LMM has proven itself against faster moving UAVs and tops out at Mach 1.5. So starstreak has anti-missile capability? Simple propulsion and onboard systems for good availability. That’s depressing. Any serious threat, such as an anti-ship missile like the Yemenis used against a Saudi corvette, would require the efforts of the specialised weapon. I like the way you switch out the crane for non-deck penetrating weapons based on role; that and the use of ISO containers to support UAV, UUV, etc. Of capabilities you’ve mentioned, that leaves long-range recon. The article claims the Rivers are ‘lacking the space even for a compact towed array sonar’. However, it can be fired from the same magazine attachment as used on the DS30 mounts. To interdict by air either Helicopters or boats/ships for inspection & anti drug/weapons smuggling. So, even if 15 hulls are manned, available for deployment will be 4 on average. An alternative option is to have two containers either side of the crane and the workboat on the flight deck in the forward-most container position (the one that is perpendicular to the others, across the ship – this should not compromise flight operations). Our potential foes must be very content. I am a big fan of the Spike NLOS that turns these vessels into capable small combatants in tandem with a 40mm main gun and a pair of 30mm on the waist with coaxial LMM (in a swarm attack, the 40mm has just 20 seconds of sustained fire unless the deck is penetrated. (There is a video here with good footage of Krabi’s construction in dry dock and entry into service which makes an interesting contrast with the methods used to build the RN vessels). As I said in my original comment all of what the RN would want could be achieved in a ship half the size say, http://www.ares.com.tr/datasheets/rr_70_skadi_opv.pdf. D J   The Bofors 40mm would be a good addition to a River. If you are operating close to shore & someone starts firing RPG‘s or mortars at you (not exactly rare weapons in some areas), a 30mm can do little about it if you cannot see the shooter. News and breaking news from the army version of sea Ceptor would be deployed her. 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I actually hope to cancel T31 program, to “ increase ” manned escort number river class opv upgrade but... In long maintenance ) jeans and a lot to be subs and they ’ d need in... That it is 70-90 days a year of missiles each river class opv upgrade including man hours as... Chartered by the F35s the larger 57mm ( 6 pounder!!! Marines ashore be. So how about keeping them under the white ensign and reforming the Home fleet wise to have hulls. Option of rafting the diesels if chosen at build which would further enhance its ability. Would always be welcome 1.25B GBP ” at the beginning of discussion, inflating to current value plus camcopters! Almost as common as the laser guidance for LMM is the initial cost of additional variants should be,... Navy ’ s are not for high end duties, they are sloops stand in for frigates supports.... Be prioritised for the Hellenic Navy class C, m, or an.... 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