Maritime Security
Bulgaria set to issue RFP for two patrol ships
21st December 2016 - 14:00 by Alex Mladenov & Krassimir Grozev in Sofia
The Bulgarian Navy has signaled its readiness to issue a Request for Proposal (RfP) for the procurement of two new patrol ships, but the government crisis and changes in the public procurement legislation in Bulgaria have delayed it so far.
The RfP was originally expected to be issued until the year-end, after the Council of Ministers and Parliament gave green light to the project in June 2016 and approved a BGN 820 million (€419 million) of funding. Now the Bulgarian Navy claimed that that the RfP could be issued in the first half of 2017.
Bulgarian Navy Capt Ivelin Kraev, head of plans and policy department at the Navy HQ, speaking at an AFCEA conference in Sofia on 12 December revealed some details about the project, which is set to become the main modernisation project for the Bulgarian naval service.
Kraev said that the two existing Pauk-class patrol corvettes have a useful life of no more than five years which makes the procurement of new patrol ships an urgent task. The delivery timeframe of the ships as required by the Bulgarian Navy is going to be missed due to the delayed RfP.
Outfitting the ships with mission equipment and weapons systems is slated to be undertaken in three phases. The first of these foresees the ships to be capable of surveillance, anti-submarine warfare and self-defence. To be able to do this, the ships will be armed with a 76mm main gun, CIWS, 3D radar, Link 11 datalink, hull-mounted sonar system and lightweight torpedoes. In addition they will also provide basing of one AS565MB Panther multi-role helicopter (already operated by the Bulgarian Navy).
Kraev added that phase two will add an electronic warfare (EW) system together with Link 16 datalink, SATCOM and a surface-to-air missile system.
Phase three will provide the definitive configuration, including a newly-added anti-ship missile system and towed array sonar, in order to convert the patrol ship into a fully combat-capable corvette able to deal with underwater, surface and air threats.
Kraev however was reluctant to provide any budget estimates for phases two and three while commenting that the government-approved funding for the patrol ship project is not able to cover the purchase and integration of the systems as foreseen in these two phases.
According to the Bulgarian Navy requirements, the two ships shall be built in a Bulgarian shipyard. So far, the main candidate to win the project is Varna-based MTG Delfin company, which has accumulated experience in building patrol ships under Ukrainian projects, sold out in Africa. The company is offering its K-90 project with displacement of about 1,700 tonnes (pictured above).
In May 2016, the company signed a cooperation agreement on the K-90 joint work with three highly-experienced European manufacturers of electronics systems and weapons - Thales Netherlands, Leonardo and DIEHL Defence.
Damen has also expressed a serious interest in the expected Bulgarian tender, offering the Sigma-class corvette, while DCNS is set to offer its Gowind project; both companies have already declared their readiness to cooperate with local shipyards in their proposals for participation in the expected patrol ship tender in Bulgaria.
https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/imps ... rol-ships/