SINGAPORE’S ST Engineering Marine laid the keel for the Republic of Singapore Navy’s (RSN) third Multi-Role Combat Vessel (MRCV)–the future Vigilance at ST Engineering. The keel laying ceremony commemorates the “birth of a new ship cradled in its shipyard” and was attended by the Permanent Secretary (Defence) Joseph Leong together with the Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Sean Wat and senior officials and representatives from the RSN, DSTA Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) and ST Engineering Marine.
This is the second major milestone for the third MRCV after its steel was cut earlier this April alongside steel for the fourth vessel–Valiant. 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.
In July, the second MRCV–Valour was launched while the first–Victory was launched last October and is undergoing outfitting, platform and combat systems integration, before subsequent acceptance trials. Pioneer MRCV crews have also begun training to operationalise the ship in the coming years.
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 fifth and sixth vessels will be named 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.–-shp/adj/dl (Pix:RSN)
