In April, Admiral N’Guessan Kouame Celestin, Ivorian Chief of Staff of the National Navy, announced the future acquisition of the P400 OPV, two OPV-45s and maritime surveillance drones as part of the revitalisation of the Navy.
The transfer of ceremony of OPV took place in Concarneau (France) on Friday, 9 September 2022. The delivery of this vessel follows the signature by the Ministry of Defence of Côte d’Ivoire of a contract for its acquisition in April. The ship was retired from service in 2012 and purchased by Piriou the following year.
This Offshore Patrol Vessel redesign was carried out by the subsidiary PIRIOU NAVAL SERVICES (PNS) with the support of KERSHIP’s teams. This contract includes a training session for the crew to take charge of the vessel in Concarneau before its departure and a two-year contract for Maintenance in Operational Condition.
The Ivorian Navy’s operational capabilities have been primarily degraded after the first and second civil wars, leaving it with few vessels for coastal surveillance and security. In 2018, it was reported that the Ivorian Navy purchased 30 RHIBs and ten patrol crafts from Raidco Marine to boost its operations.
The French Navy’s P400 class OPVs were created to conduct patrol operations within the French exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The French company Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie, which specialises in small military craft, built them. The P400 class was initially designed in two versions: one armed with Exocet MM38 missiles and another public service version with a smaller 16-man complement; neither of these versions was eventually commissioned because the French Navy chose an intermediate version.
The OPV is named after Rear Admiral Lamine FADIKA, the National Navy’s first Ivorian officer, in July 1967. They usually have a Bofors 40L60 gun, two AA-52 machine guns, and a GIAT 20F2 20mm gun.
Although The engines of the P400 have been defective since the maiden voyage of the lead ship L’Audacieuse to Dakar, the P400 class can stay 15 days at sea and have 20 days of food supplies for 28 adults.
