‘Other arms deal’ inshore patrol vessels fail SA in its global duties
Docked at Durban is a sleek, long-lined grey patrol craft with a distinctive vertical prow, the cutting edge of SA’s other arms deal — one so untroubled by the sort of scandal that rocked the 1999 strategic arms procurement package that it has sailed under the public’s radar.
The 750-tonne vessel may be upstaged by its larger 3,700tonne sister missile frigates at Simon’s Town, four of which were acquired along with three submarines during that earlier court case-racked R30bn deal, but it is the first of at least three inshore patrol vessels (IPVs) designed for multiple roles in our coastal littoral waters.
Given that SA lacks a true coast guard, its functions will range from maritime law enforcement, including fishstock protection to deep-diving training, mine countermeasures, underwater recovery, pollution clean-ups, humanitarian assistance, and search-and-rescue.
The three Warrior-class IPVs are envisaged to be supported at times by the navy’s Maritime Reaction Squadron, its “Marines”, which is equipped with 10 Namacurra-class harbour patrol boats, and to provide support at times to the department of environmental affairs, forestry & fisheries patrol vessels.
Its search-and-rescue function is crucial as SA has an international legal obligation to provide aerial and maritime assistance over an immense swathe of territory: almost half a hemisphere, encompassing about 28.5-million square kilometres, down to the South Pole.
But with a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,704km), the IPVs are incapable of even a return trip to SA’s south Indian Ocean possession, the Prince Edward Islands. The R3.6bn deal that secured the vessels in 2018 under Project Biro has already been shorn for budget-slashing purposes of its requirement for three offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), capable of deep-sea operations. OPV acquisitions are deferred for now.
Complicating the task of the overstretched navy, SA’s maritime exclusive economic zone is likely to grow to almost twice its land area if a claim before the UN is approved, as expected. Blind spots are to be filled by nine maritime domain awareness satellites, developed by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The first three were launched in January.
In the absence of OPVs, the three new multirole IPVs — with an as yet unrealised option for a fourth — will replace the navy’s aged and less mission-flexible “strike-craft” OPVs. One, the SAS Galeshewe, is already decommissioned to reserve status.
On June 18, the first new patrol craft was commissioned at the renovated Naval Base Durban as SAS Sekhukhune I. The second ship, SAS Adam Kok, is due for delivery to the navy in April 2023, while the third, SAS King Shaka, is earmarked for April 2024, according to prime contractors Damen Shipyards Cape Town.
“It’s a good news story,” Damen Shipyards chair Sam Montsi, told Business Day at last week’s Africa Aerospace & Defence show at the Waterkloof Air Force Base south of Pretoria —“though we would have loved to have got Project Hotel as well,” referring to the contract for the navy’s new hydrographic research vessel to replace the 50-year-old SAS Protea. Project Hotel was landed instead by Sandock Austral Shipyards and delivery of the ship is scheduled for April 2023, with an upgrade of the hydrographic office already completed.
Montsi’s Montsi Investments bought shares in the Farocean Marine yard in Cape Town in 1996, and in 2008 Dutch shipping giant Damen bought in too, transforming the yard into Damen Shipyards Cape Town.
For Project Biro, the Dutch contribution is largely in the area of design: the patented “sea axe” vertical prow was co-designed by the Delft University of Technology to reduce pitching and thus improve speed, fuel efficiency and crew safety in the notoriously rough southern seas around SA.
A Dutch Damen engineer says although the ships’ geometric sides were required to be angled slightly more acutely than the baseline model, and though unlike with the frigates, its engine exhaust is vented, mixed with water, just above the waterline, there is no radar profile lowering stealth requirement for the ships.
Each vessel is crewed by 49 personnel, transferred from each of the old strike-craft and minesweepers as the new IPVs are commissioned. The SAS Sekhukhune is captained by Cdr Jabulani Mashamba. Space is provided for another 14 people aboard, whether marines, other specialists, or even rescuers, and the ships are able to store containerised mission modules on the rear decks.
Greater scrutiny after the original arms deal may have produced a cleaner successor, but budget cuts and critical skills shortages in the navy and maintenance dockyard may result in the new ships being more at anchor than at sea.
WITH A RANGE OF 3,700KM, THE SHIPS ARE INCAPABLE OF EVEN A RETURN TRIP TO SA’S PRINCE EDWARD ISLANDS POSSESSIONS
BUDGET CUTS AND CRITICAL SKILLS SHORTAGES IN THE NAVY MAY RESULT IN THE NEW SHIPS BEING MORE AT ANCHOR THAN AT SEA