Arafura class Offshore Patrol Vessel Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy
Arafura class Offshore Patrol Vessel - OPV

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Ships:

OPV 203 HMAS Arafura
OPV 204 HMAS Eyre
OPV 205 HMAS Pilbara
OPV 206 HMAS Gippsland
OPV 207 HMAS Illawarra (2028)
OPV 208 HMAS Carpentaria (2029)

Specifications:

Builders:
ASC Shipbuilding, Adelaide, South Australia
Civmec, Henderson, Western Australia

Displacement: 1,640 tonnes
Length: 80 meters (260 feet)
Beam: 13 meters (43 ft)
Draft: 4 meters (13 ft)
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)
Range: 4,000 NM (7,400 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement: 40 (accommodation for 60)

Propulsion:
2 x MTU 16V diesel engines (4,440 kW, each)
2 shafts, 2 variable pitch propellers

Armament:
1 x Rafael 25mm Typhoon Remote Weapon Systems (RWS)

Aviation:
none - utility deck for replenishment and UAV's only

Boats & landing craft:
2 x 8.5m Boomeranger FRB850 RHIB's (crane launched)
1 x 10.5m Boomeranger C1100 RHIB (stern ramp launched)

Systems:
SAAB Situational Awareness System (SAS) with:
Saab EOS500 electro-optical fire control director
Terma SCANTER 6002 radar
Furuno navigation radars
Safran Vigy Engage electro-optical surveillance and fire control multisensor system

The Arafura class is a class of offshore patrol vessels being built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

The Arafura-class is based on the Lürssen-designed Darussalam class OPV, operated by the Royal Brunei Navy. Each vessel has a gross displacement of 1,640 tonnes, and measures 80 metres long, with a beam of 13 metres and a draft of 4 metres. Propulsion power is from two MTU 16V diesel engines rated at 4440kW each, which drive variable pitch propellers and give a top speed of 22 knots, and shipboard electrical power is generated by MAN diesel engines. The ship's range is about 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km), with an endurance of 21 days. The standard crew complement is 40 sailors, though up to 20 more can be berthed if required. The ships will be deployed with empty space available to install container-mounted systems such as aircraft support and sensors; if fully utilized, the gross displacement could increase to 1,800 tonnes.

Shipboard armament was originally intended to be a single 40 mm gun and two 12.7 mm guns. The 40 mm gun was cancelled in 2021 due to a combination of technical problems and a re-assessment of the threats the ships would face. The ships will instead be armed with a Typhoon Weapon Station on an interim basis until a replacement weapon is identified and then acquired. In May 2023 it was reported that the RAN was considering purchasing a containerised variant of the C-Dome surface-to-air missile system to improve the Arafura-class's armament.

Each vessel carries two 8.5 metre rigid inflatable boats and a single 10 metre boat, which are intended as the primary means of deploying offensive force in the ships' border patrol role. A single unmanned aerial vehicle is carried and deployed from an open utility deck. Two separate electro-optic targeting systems and three radars are installed and managed by the Saab 9LV system. In order to allow the ships to operate in conjunction with allied international forces, each ship is equipped with a unique electronic identifier transponder that allows for communication via the Link 16 network.

The first two vessels will be built by ASC Shipbuilding in Adelaide, South Australia before production is transferred to the shipyard of Forgacs Marine & Defence, a subsidiary of Civmec, in Henderson, Western Australia.

images

OPV 203 HMAS Arafura

OPV 204 HMAS Eyre

OPV 205 HMAS Pilbara

OPV 206 HMAS Gippsland - under construction

OPV 207 HMAS Illawarra - under construction

OPV 208 HMAS Carpentaria - under construction

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