Singapore Cuts Steel On Third, Fourth MRCV Motherships

SINGAPORE cut steel for the Republic of Singapore Navy’s (RSN) third and fourth Multi-Role Combat Vessel (MRCV) at ST Engineering Marine Limited on April 29. Additionally, the second MRCV Valour is expected to be launched in the second half of this year.

The steel cutting ceremony was officiated by the RSN Head of Naval Engineering and Logistics (HNEL) ME7 Khoo Koh Giok together with senior officials and representatives from the RSN and Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) at ST Engineering Marine Ltd.

The MRCV is designed to be a mothership for unmanned aerial, surface and sub-surface systems, with six MRCVs aimed to supplant the existing Victory-class missile corvettes (MCVs) progressively from 2028 onwards as the RSN’s largest surface vessels. The third vessel and so on will be named Vigilance, Valiant, Vigour and Vengeance, retaining the names of the older Victory-class corvettes as well as their pennant numbers.

Equipped with advanced sensors, weapon systems and network capabilities, this class of vessel is capable of handling a wide range of threats, and function as a Command ship with advanced automation. Furthermore, an MRCV will be able to operate safely and effectively with a smaller crew compared to other warships of similar size and capability.

While it is a mothership, the MRCV carries an array of armaments, including MBDA’s MICA and ASTER surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and surface-to-surface missiles (SSM) in addition to Leonardo’s STRALES 76mm gun along with Rafael’s 30mm Typhoon Mk30-C remote weapons station (RWS).

Its operational range exceeds 7,000 nautical miles, twice that of the Formidable-class frigates which are RSN’s principal combatants. Meanwhile, it has an endurance of over 21 days without refuelling or resupplying.

The first MRCV, Victory was launched last October and is undergoing outfitting, platform and combat systems integration, and subsequently acceptance trials. In parallel, pioneer MRCV crew have also begun training to operationalise the ship in the coming years. 

Built by the republic’s ST Engineering, the MRCV is the result of a joint development spearheaded by the DSTA, DSO National Laboratories and ST Engineering, together with international partners including Swedish firm Saab Kockums who is responsible for providing the vessels’ composite superstructures, while Denmark’s Odense Maritime Technology (OMT) contributed to the design.–-shp/adj/dl (Pix:RSN)