Monday 02 October 2023 - 2:34:07 pm
Tue 24-02-2015 14:44 PM
ABU DHABI, February 24th, 2015 (WAM) -- Damen Shipyards, a Dutch owned international shipyard group, is working in partnership with Abu Dhabi Ship Building, ADSB, to deliver two offshore patrol vessels, OPVs, to the UAE Critical Infrastructure and Coastal Protection Authority, CICPA, under Project Arialah.
According to the IDEX show daily, the ADSB was awarded a contract for the two ships in December 2013. The ships themselves will be delivered from Damen’s Galati shipyard in Romania in 2017, and they will then go to ADSB’s facility in Mussafah for combat systems installation and integration prior to delivery to the CICPA.
The 67m Arialah multi-purpose OPVs will be capable of performing a number of roles, including maritime security, law enforcement, offshore patrol, and search and rescue. A key feature of the ships is the distinctive ‘sea axe’ hull, which offers exceptionally low resistance to enable superior seakeeping, and sustained high speeds in high sea states.
Damen has developed the sea axe bow design in partnership with the University of Delft, Royal Netherlands Navy, US Coast Guard and the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands.
According to Damen, the Arialah design combines a chined hull and deep-V bottom with the sea axe bow to all but eliminate vertical acceleration and slamming as the vessel ‘cuts’ through the waves.
CICPA has specified a comprehensive weapon, sensor and command suite, for which Thales Nederland is taking major responsibility. As well as supplying its TACTICOS combat management system, SMART-S Mk 2 E/F-band surveillance radar, Mirador electro-optical (EO) system, STIR 1.2 EO Mk 2 radar/EO fire control director, Vigile radar-band electronic support measures (ESM) and Altesse communications ESM, Thales is also taking overall responsibility for combat system integration.
The Arialah ships will each be armed with an OTO Melara 76/62 gun forward, two OTO Melara MARLIN 30mm gun mountings on either beam, and a single Raytheon Mk 49 Mod 2 11-cell Rolling Airframe Missile launcher amidships. Rheinmetall MASS decoy launchers will be fitted for soft-kill protection. CICPA’s Arialah vessels will be fitted with a helicopter flight deck aft.
Fast interceptor boats, together with their associated launch and recovery equipment, will be sited amidships on either beam.
WAM/Muhammad Aamir
