Indonesian shipbuilder PT Daya Radar Utama has reached a milestone in its contract to build Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) for the Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) at the shipyard’s facility in Lampung province in Sumatra. The official keel laying ceremony was conducted on 16 November 2022 with officials from the Indonesian Ministry of Defence (MoD), Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) and PT Daya Radar Utama. The ships are being constructed under two different projects; one is a 90-meter OPV; while there is no indication of the actual length, it is believed to be around 60 meters long. The First Steel Cutting for both ships was held on 26 August 2021 and is said to be the first attempt by an Indonesian shipyard to build a military OPV locally, which will fill the gap between the Indonesian Navy’s fleet of patrol boats and larger frigates and corvettes.
The 90-meter OPV is expected to be
similar to previous designs released by PT Daya Radar Utama, which has a length
of 90 metres, and a width of 13.5 metres. The ship reaches around 28 knots with
her four 7,280-kilowatt diesel engines.
The 90-meter OPV will be armed with
a 76mm Oto Melara Super Rapid naval gun, a 35mm Rheinmetall Millennium Gun
close-in weapon system (CIWS), and two quadruple launchers for MBDA MM40 Exocet
anti-ship missiles, according to design photos and videos provided by PT Daya
Radar Utama. The weapons are said to be for later procurement, with the OPVs
being fitted but not equipped (FFBNW). It has a helicopter deck and hangar for
a naval helicopter and two stern ramps for Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure
(VBSS) operations. There is no additional information available about the
second OPV.
