DSTA Reveals Origins of Singapore’s MRCV

The Republic of Singapore Navy’s future MRCV, which is about to turn out to be the primary floor combatant ship designed as a drone mothership, relies on a fusion of designs from Sweden and Denmark. 

Designs from Saab Kockums and Denmark’s Odense Maritime Know-how (OMT) have been initially two separate entrants into the MRCV program. 

Nevertheless, as the method developed, the 2 corporations determined to merge their respective proposals in response to officers from Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) talking on the Royal Institute of Naval Architects (RINA) Warships 2024 convention in Adelaide, South Australia. 

The ultimate design, which contains parts from each corporations’ reference designs, was ultimately profitable in fulfilling the MRCV requirement – beating out choices from an unknown variety of different corporations. 

OMT’s preliminary design was based mostly on an enlarged model of the Royal Danish Navy’s Absalon-class and Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates, modified to satisfy Singaporean payload necessities and to permit for future payload development. Saab Kockums, in the meantime, proposed a smaller, corvette-sized, vessel constructing on the heritage of the Royal Swedish Navy’s Visby-class. 

When the designs have been merged, design parts, techniques and approaches from each reference designs have been included into the brand new design. The businesses additionally agreed to cooperate as if each have been equal, regardless of OMT being formally solely a subcontractor to Saab Kockums. 

On the OMT facet, the MRCV design incorporates the enlarged Absalon/Iver Huitfeldt’s hull traces and structural metal design, in addition to its proposed payload administration system. The place it differs is on the fight system and propulsion facet, the place the design takes closely from the Saab idea, most notably in its use of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic within the superstructure and masts in addition to its method to integrating weapons and sensors. 

In the course of the 2023 version of IMDEX Asia, Naval Information discovered that the MRCV would have a displacement of round 8,000 tons and a crew complement of about 80 sailors, indicating a excessive degree of automation within the platform. The next sensors and weapons are set to be fitted on the ships: 

• Leonardo’s 76mm naval gun within the STRALES variant;
• MBDA’s VL MICA NG and Aster B1 NT air defence missiles;
• ST Engineering / IAI Blue Spear anti-ship missiles;
• Thales’ SeaFire multifunction radar 
• Safran’s PASEO XLR EO/IR system;
• Safran’s NGDS decoy launching system.

The MRCV’s natural weapons and sensors, nonetheless, received’t be its major weapons as it’s meant as a mothership for autonomous and uncrewed techniques. This deal with the platform’s embarked techniques is mirrored within the design selections made across the MRCV’s energy and propulsion techniques. 

To allow flexibility and development, the DSTA determined to mandate an Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) for the MRCV. IFEP is an association the place diesel engines and or fuel generators generate electrical energy which can be utilized for each ship companies – such because the fight system – and propulsion by way of electrical motors. 

The important thing benefit of this association in response to the DSTA is that it’s versatile as electrical energy might be immediately moved from propulsion to powering fight techniques, or vice versa, as wanted. Usually, in different warship designs that incorporate IFEP energy preparations, {the electrical} system is powered by each fuel generators and diesel engines with the generators solely turning on when energy demand spikes. 

Nevertheless, for the Republic of Singapore Navy, this wasn’t an possibility as it could require them to arrange a complete different upkeep, sustainment and coaching pipeline to assist marine fuel generators provided that no different Republic of Singapore Navy vessel makes use of fuel turbine engines. 

As an alternative, the DSTA opted for a fully-diesel powered IFEP association which limits the ship’s means to generate large quantities of energy to allow high-speed operations or quicker acceleration. This, the DSTA judged, was acceptable for the MRCV due to its function as an uncrewed and autonomous techniques mothership. Which means that it isn’t required to be small and light-weight with a excessive power-to-weight ratio, as missions that might require these capabilities might be carried out by its embarked techniques. 

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