MAST Europe 2016: Portugal updates frigate modernisation roadmap

Alex Pape, Amsterdam – IHS Jane’s Navy International
22 June 2016

The Portuguese Navy is to follow the path set by the Royal Dutch and Belgian navies to modernise its pair of M-class frigates, locally referred to as the Bartolomeu Dias class. Speaking at the MAST maritime defence exhibition in Amsterdam, Rear Admiral Jose Belo Garcia, head of Ships Directorate for the Portuguese Navy, noted that the navy had decided to upgrade the two ex-Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) frigates.

The Portuguese Navy acquired the ex-RNLN ships, decommissioned early under defence cuts, under a 2006 contract. The first vessel, Bartolomeu Dias (ex- Van Nes , decommissioned from the RNLN in December 2007) was handed over in January 2009.

http://www.janes.com/article/61706/mast-europe-2016-portugal-updates-frigate-modernisation-roadmap