I was on an oil rig boarded in Nigerian waters in 1999 (I think), not a very pleasant experience, they were just thugs with machetes, but still scary. Over the years I’ve taken a keen interest in the piracy problem, and when I was doing superintendency got all the commerical intelligence reports and assessments, the government reports plus the usual IMO and insurance society guidance, and on the whole the overwhelming majority of piracy is not well armed large gangs but small bands of thugs with small boats, and the large majority of them do everything they can to avoid contact with any sort of law enforcement agency, it is not just a question of whether they can take on a small OPV but also the knowledge that they are very much aware of the consequences if they try and destroy a Police, Coastguard or Naval vessel, they know full well that a frigate or destroyer would be on station with revenge on it’s mind. Pirates tend to be into piracy as it’s relatively safe and easy for them, ratchet up the inconvenience and threat of capture and there are other avenues for these people to practice their avarice, let’s face it the vast majority of piracy attacks get little more than a few of the crews personal effects and some petty cash from the masters safe, hardly like robbing fort knox. In the Caribbean the drug smugglers are very well organised and heavily armed and RFA tankers often chase them down with the help of embarked RN helicopters.
About these ships, in most countries there is a very real need for economical Coastguard/Police type vessels for patrolling the EEZ etc. and they need a cheap to buy, cheap to operate vessel with decent sea keeping and enough clout to chase thieving fishing boats, smugglers etc. Not glamorous, not exotic and unlikely to make any great reputations but needed and required to fill an important role all the same. For decades the RN has operated OPV’s with little more than a token armament, and USCG cutters aren’t that heavily armed.

I’m fully aware of modern piracy and have experience of it at the wrong end. Pirates may have small arms, they may have RPG’s, but seldom anything more, and modern full on warships are seldom armoured, and why would you need Harpoon, Exocet MM40, VLS SAM capability, ASW torpedos etc. or any of the other fancy weapons of some of the super corvettes to combat piracy? Most pirate gangs run at the first sign of professional naval units, and whilst a 76mm OTO might be useful, very few pirate gangs will take on a helicopter or a naval vessel, and you don’t need Harpoon or Excocet to sink a small boat with an outboard engine or converted fishing boat. Most piracy is crime of opportunity and deterrence is an effective weapon.

The reason for selecting a rotating radar antenna (as in Horizon and Type 45) as opposed to the slab type SPY was to enable it to be mounted higher up to increase performance and retain good stability ( a problem if you mount the SPY the way Spain does on the F100). And these ships do have low radar signature technology, they’re as stealthy as any other warships of that size.

I think this is an excellent vessel, it should have good sea keeping qualities, it is more than adequate for general Coastguard/Police type duties and fisheries protection and the helicopter facilities give it long reach and potential to operate in roles beyond basic Policing duties. There does seem to be upgrade potential and it is an economical design, it is basically doing the same job as a lot of these vaunted high spec corvettes at a fraction of the cost.

Most modern ship designs use modular architecture, even in those designs not part of a shared platform approach a lot of the machinery and outfit is based on standardised modules.

These vessels seem pretty similar in concept and intended utilisation to the new Falklands patrol vessel, a growth derivative of the River class OPV with a heli deck intended for Coastguard type duties, fisheries protection, assisting SAR ops, Policing/security duties etc., not a front line warship. As such it seems a well found design, speed is less important than good sea keeping qualities in the area’s these vessels will operate in and armament really isn’t that important, for the roles they will perform a light cannon is more than adequate, even the 30mm callibre preferred by the RN with small arms is quite adequate. To me it really does seem that these types of vessel are ideal, well enough equipped for the job but pretty economical to buy and operate with new fancy extra’s that are basically a waste of money to look good on paper, to me they’re far more sensible designs than most of the high cost corvette type vessels becoming popular which cost an awful lot more and will be used for similar duties.

The BAM frigates would be classed as large OPV’s or Coastguard cutters in other navies, not to under play the importance of such vessels as they do a very important job, but they’tr not really frigates. The additional F100 is a big investment though.