The Ministry of Defense of Montenegro (MoD) has started the contracting procedure for the construction of two new patrol ships for the needs of the Croatian Navy, the procurement of which will cost taxpayers more than 120 million euros.
After almost five years of reviewing the available offer on the market, defining the technical and technological requirements of the Croatian Navy, and visiting or contacting several shipyards in Europe and the Middle East that build medium-sized patrol ships, the Ministry of Defense decided a few months ago to introduce two new medium-sized patrol ships into the MVCG fleet. patrol boats of the OPV-60 type (Offshore Patrol Vessel) designed and built by the French shipbuilding corporation Kership from Konkarno for customers from third countries. The government recently gave the green light to the signing of the Technical Arrangement between the MoD and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of France, which "defines the principles and procedures of the support that the French side will provide to the Montenegrin side for the procurement in question according to the provisions of the commercial contract, which the MoD will conclude with Kership." This technical support of the French Ministry of Defense alone will cost Montenegrin taxpayers 700.000 euros, and it is planned to be paid in five installments, until the beginning of 2028. The first installment in the amount of 145.000 euros will be paid no later than November 30 of this year.
The government also defined the proposal of the "Law on confirmation of the agreement between the Government of Montenegro and the Government of the Republic of France on cooperation in the field of defense with a technical arrangement between the Ministry of Defense of Montenegro and the Minister of Defense of the Republic of France on the procurement of two patrol ships by Montenegro", which was submitted in the parliamentary procedure.
Expected
In this way, what "Vijesti" announced at the end of March was most likely to happen, i.e. that the French will get the job of building two new patrol ships for the MVCG, which are a key program of modernization and equipping that branch of our army in the coming period.
Although the Ministry of Defense in March, arguing that it was about material "marked with the level of secrecy internally", refused to submit to "Vijesta" the report of the Montenegrin delegation, which, on the orders of the Chief of the General Staff of the VCG, Brigadier General Zoran Lazarevic, was in France from September 14 last year and inspected the ship of the Kership corporation from September 20 to 22, "Vijesti" got hold of that document from which it was clear that the French are the favorites to get the most expensive job of equipping the Montenegrin armed forces since the restoration of state independence in 2006. Namely, active and retired senior naval and naval technical officers and staff of the Directorate for Material Resources of the Ministry of Defense who were part of these delegations decided to order two new medium patrol ships of the OPV-60 type for the needs of the MVCG of Kership Corporation. Previously, in addition to the French, the shipyards of the Elbit System corporation in Israel, Babcock or Harland&Wollf in Great Britain, Daersan in Turkey, Damen in the Netherlands, Kongsberg in Norway, NVL in Germany and Fincantieri in Italy were initially contacted. Further communication was initially continued with the Turks and Israelis, and last year the French and Italians joined the competition. The MoD delegation visited the French shipbuilding company Kership on four occasions, where their capacities and ships that are the subject of Montenegrin interest were reviewed. One of the OPV-60 type ships, which Kership was completing for the Senegalese Navy at the time, was tested for a test drive, after which our delegation, in a report that "Vijesti" had access to, recommended to the Ministry of Defense to continue negotiations with Kership and get those very ships. It was established that the French OPV-60, with its tactical and technical characteristics, meets to the greatest extent the requirements from the technical specification previously defined by the Navy of Croatia. However, it was also noted that ships of this type do not meet that specification in some aspects, the most important of which is that the standard equipped OPV-60 has the ability to form a unique tactical image and exchange it in two spheres, i.e. monitoring the situation in the air and on the sea surface , but not in the third sphere (undersea), which was a Montenegrin request because the Ministry of Defense wants the new patrol ships to be equipped with sonar, and to have the possibility of conducting anti-submarine warfare on a smaller scale.
"The combat capability of the OPV 60 type ship is based on the 'Polaris' combat-operational system, which enables subsequent arming of the ship with missile and anti-submarine weapons, which multiplies the combat capability in the event of a war threat," it was stated in the Report, after which it was definitively "broken" to go into business with the French.
By the way, the Ministry of Defense delegation, choosing the type of new vessel for the MVCG, also visited the Italian unit of the Guardia di Finanze (Financial Police) in Taranto, where they toured the newly built patrol boat P-04 "Osum" of the Stan Patrol 6009 type, constructed by the Dutch company Damen. In addition to the French type OPV-60, which was eventually selected, in the competition to become the new patrol ship of the Croatian Navy, there was another, slightly smaller Damen model, the Stan Patrol 5509 type.
58 meter boat
Kership's OPV 60 patrol vessel, which is 58,2 meters long and slightly more than 550 tons in displacement, with a maximum speed of 22 knots, an autonomy of 21 days at sea and an action radius of 4.500 miles, has good maritime and maneuvering characteristics. The ship has a hybrid drive with two MAN 175D diesel engines and electric motors with a total power of slightly more than 6.000 horses, which enables it to travel a long distance with reduced fuel consumption. The modular construction principle gives these ships great flexibility and potential for future possible upgrades and equipping with additional weapons and equipment during the vessel's expected life of 30+ years.
The OPV-60 type ship can take on board up to 24 members of regular crew and other persons, has two fast RHIB boats for interventions, and on the deck can also receive two standardized containers with a length of 20 feet, with built-in special modules or equipment for carrying out special combat or non-combat actions.
In the version built for Senegal and inspected by our experts, the OPV-60 is very well armed for this type of warship: the ship has a 76mm Oto Melara Super Rapido gun, two 20mm remote-controlled Nexter Narwhal guns, two 12,7 mm machine gun, and Marta anti-ship missiles and Mistral anti-aircraft missiles of shorter range, which is very uncharacteristic for vessels of this type.
Department headed by the Minister of Defense Dragan Krapović so far, he has not publicly announced what weapons and sensors will be equipped with the two ships whose construction will be ordered in France, but the members of our delegation were particularly impressed by the "Polaris" combat-operational system, which integrates into a single unit and connects all sensor and weapon systems on board, performs fusion and processing of collected data, exchanges data with land, aircraft and other ships, and enables optimal and efficient use of ship's weapons and conduct of battle at sea.
Coming in three years?
Although it has not yet formally signed the contract for the construction of two ships with Kership, the Ministry of Defense states in the Technical Agreement with the Ministry of Defense of France that "the total value of the contract does not exceed 120 million euros" and that "the date of delivery of the Equipment / (ships - prim.aut.) does not exceed period of 36 months from the date of entry into force". This means that MVCG could receive the first of the new ships in its composition by the end of 2027 or the beginning of 2028 at the latest.
According to the current "Long-term defense development plan 2018-2028. year", the level of ambition of Montenegro is that one of the new patrol ships can stay at least 80 days a year at sea. Within the framework of participation in NATO tasks, it is defined that one ship can join the allies' mission in the Mediterranean Sea for three months in one year, and that Montenegro participates with one ship in at least two naval exercises of the NATO alliance during the year.
"By acquiring new patrol ships, putting into operational use fast reaction boats, modernizing coastal observation stations, and establishing the exchange of classified data with allies through the Naval Operations Center (MOC) in the new Command building, the construction of which is underway, the Croatian Navy will gain a new capability on awareness and presence at sea and in this way will be able to protect the national interests of Montenegro at sea. In addition to the national tasks, the assumed NATO obligations regarding the fulfillment of the quantitative and qualitative goals of capabilities, which are directly conditioned by the possession of patrol ships with the foreseen characteristics, would be fully fulfilled. In addition to the control of the Montenegrin maritime waters, this would also entail participation in international missions and operations in the wider waters of the Adriatic and the central Mediterranean in complex meteorological and other conditions", announced the Ministry of Defense.
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