Really?

Interesting, I thought it was not needed to enlarge the flight deck in such way for the NH-90.

The chileans had the deck enlarged to operate the COUGAR.

Is the Louise Marie retaining the Goalkeeper? It had to be removed from the Chilean Frigates.

The Belgian ships retain all standard armaments. I would think the same would apply for the Portugese ships: it’s cheaper to maintain them in same condition as the Dutch than to rearm them according to Portugese Meko200 standard

I would be amazed if at the very least some sort of feasibility study to rapidly give the GR-7/9A fleet a BVR capability with some sort of radar had not been carried out.

The recently completed podded AN/APS-144(V) Radar System has ground surveillance and air-intercept modes of operation. Capable of detecting and interdicting aircraft in an air-to-air role this radar will play a prominent role in counter-narcotic and contraband interdiction.

http://www.edocorp.com/RadarAirborne.htm#pod

Makes Kitty Hawk look reeeeeeeaal attractive!………..just kiddin!

I’m sure it might look attractive to more than just the Indians. However, you know just as well as the next person that the Americans are NEVER going to sell any of their retired supercarriers to any other navy (the only possible exception I could see occurring would be the Royal Navy, but even that’s highly remote)

I don’t think that we need four antiquated frigates – they would be only a waste of money. The Wielingen frigate doesn’t present any significant improvement – they are old, and only the Exocet missiles offer anything better than the 1159. Yet, the Exocets are the first model, which is rather obsolete. And there is only one Exocet missile in the frigate, and we don’t have any other. As you can see, the logistics aren’t the best, and the old ship itself would require intensive maintenance. So buying 3 obsolete ships (25-35 million euro) and then buying ammunitions, spares, and so on would come at some 200 million. On the other hand, a Gowind would have the same price, while having the firepower of the 3 frigates. Right now the best solution would be to maintain the current fleet (1 1159, 1 Belgian frigate, 1 Molniya, 2 1124s, 3 Osa I, and 3 Osa II) until the four new corvettes come to service. The financial resource is not unlimited, so any Belgian frigates could hamper the buying of the Gowinds.

As for type 22/23 – they are more powerful, but having 3 different types of frigates is rather pointless. Also, as I mentioned, we need money for the Gowinds 🙁

I did not suggest the Wielingen would replace the Koni but rather that they would be used to expand the number of bigger ships to 4. It is possible that there would be a simulaneous reduction in other ships to free up trained crew. While I could see NATO military assistance money pay for some of the cost of ammunitions or spares, no way such money will go to fund french built frigates. It may even be that Belgium will let Bulgaria have the Wielingens for just the cost of getting them out of Belgium. You’re also forgetting (some) Wielingen were just recently refurbed.

P-17

Any news about P-17? Wiki reports that first ship, “INS Shivalik has been handed over to the Indian Navy for sea trials and the ship is expected to be commissioned into service by October 2007”. Any news? any pics?

I’ld take that with a BIG grain of salt. There would have been news coverage.
Besides, that wiki post says “the ship is expected to be commissioned into service by October 2007″, not that is actually was commissioned.

Shivalik was scheduled as followed (from Bharat Rakshak);
Laid Down – 11 July 2001
Launched – 18 April 2003
Commissioning – September 2007.

Yet, on April 18 2003 the Beeb already reported
“India trials stealth frigate”, thus confusing launch (=hull hitting the water) with commissioning (=entering service).

See: http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=18.969184&lon=72.849028&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2

Why do you think there was a follow up order for 3 more Talwar class ships? Because the P17s were coming along as planned?

more P17 infos: http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=73443

http://www.barentsobserver.com/index.php?id=543273&cat=16149&xforceredir=1&noredir=1

The construction of the aircraft carrier “Admiral Gorshkov” has created a complicated situation at the Sevmash construction yard in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast, company director Nikolay Kalistratov says. The vessel, which is to be sold to India, has become three times more expensive than originally projected.

What’s going on???

What do you think is going on? It’s in poor shape, worse than expected and taking more work than projected. Plus it is keeping them from other, commercial work.

Currently, Bulgaria has one Wielingn frigate, there are plans for the aquisition of one more. So the proposed future fleet would be of 2 Wielingens and 4 Gowinds (not sure if they would be 200 or what would be the exact weapon suit).

The Wielingen class is a class of four multi-functional frigates of the Belgian Navy. The fourth frigate, the F913 Westhinder, was put out of service in 1993 according to the Delcroix reformation plan and scrapped. The third ship, the F912 Wandelaar, followed in 2004 and was sold to Bulgaria the same year. There are talks on selling Wielingen and Westdiep.

Add to the Belgian ships the Smeli (‘Koni’ class/Type 1159) light patrol frigate and you have a four frigate navy. Considering all these ships are late 1970s vintage, they have not more than 10 years service left. If the Bulgars order new ships now, today, it will be at least a couple of years before the first is launched and commissioned. So, my perception is that Bulgaria will take the Belgian ships (three) in the interim, expanding the number of major surface combattants to four, and then pay all four light frigates off as four new ships become available.

Anybody here read Monch Publishing Group’s ‘Naval Forces’? How would you rate it?