Gowind-class corvette

Class overview
Name: Gowind class
Builders: DCNS
Alexandria Shipyard
Operators:  Egyptian Navy [1][2][3]
Subclasses: Kership
Building: 2
Planned: 4 + 2
Completed: 0
General characteristics
Type: Corvette (Gowind 2500) [4]
Displacement: 2500 tons
Length: 102 m (335 ft)
Propulsion: CODAD
Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range: 3,700 nmi (6,900 km; 4,300 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Endurance: 11 days
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 2 × 9 m (30 ft) RHIBs
Complement: 65 + 15 Special Forces
Sensors and
processing systems:
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
  • VIGILE 200 Tactical R-ESM System
  • ALTESSE Naval C-ESM
  • SYLENA MK2 decoy launcher system
Armament:
Aircraft carried:
Aviation facilities: helicopter pad and hangar

The Gowind design is a family of steel monohull corvettes developed since 2006 by DCNS to conduct missions in littoral zone such as anti-submarine warfare (ASW). The Gowind family includes vessels with lengths from 85m to 102m and displacement from 1,000t to 2,500t.[7]

The Gowind design can deploy Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) and Underwater Unmanned Vehicles (UUVs). An aft deck has been provided allowing for a 10-ton class helicopter or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations.

The platform's weapon system consists of a multi-functional radar and MICA SAM. It is armed with Exocet anti ship missiles. The propulsion system is based on Combined Diesel and Diesel (CODAD) and includes water-jets for improved maneuverability in shallow waters and high-speed performance. There is no funnel (smokestack) on these ships. The radar and other sensors are mounted on a single central mast thus allowing 360-degree view. DCNS offers two variants of the design: Gowind 1000 and Gowind 2500.

Reorganisation

Main article: Kership

The Gowind class originally consisted of offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) but after a rearrangement of products DCNS decided to remove the OPV from the Gowind class and develop the OPVs as a class of their own with L'Adroit top of the range. To do so it formed the Kership joint venture with the Piriou shipyard in Concarneau, Brittany in May 2013 to build and market lightly armed and armoured OPVs for customs, fishing and other home security missions. DCNS said this would enable it to concentrate on "developing relations" with clients seeking, heavily armed and armoured warships while Kership handles the more civilian-standard OPVs.[8]

Class specifications

Gowind 1000

The Gowind 1000 is a 1000 ton corvette which is well armed and fast. It is well-suited for protection, escort and embargo naval missions in a littoral environment. The Gowind 1000 can also perform presence, surveillance, intelligence and policing missions. It is armed with:

Gowind 2500

The The Gowind 2500 multi-mission corvette is designed for surveillance, surface and subsurface combat, protection and escort naval missions. It can also perform presence, maritime surveillance and policing missions against trafficking and piracy.

The GOWIND® 2500 capitalizes on DCNS’s developments and know-how in the field of vessel stealth. The vessel is equipped with a helicopter deck for the permanent deployment on the high seas of a heavy aircraft and airborne drones. It is armed with:

Electronic warfare & decoys for Egypt's Gowind 2500:

Vessels

Egypt

First hull block of Egypt's very first Gowind 2500 corvette being laid in the dry dock. DCNS site, Lorient
Alexandria Shipyard cutting metal for the first Gowind 2500 corvette built in Egypt.

Egypt signed a €1bn contract with French naval systems group DCNS to buy four Gowind 2,500 ton corvettes with an option for two more. Three of the corvettes will be built locally by a shipyard in Alexandria within a technology transfer agreement. It was apparently the former general, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, who decided these were the ships he wanted rather than the Meko A200 being offered by German group ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) or the Sigma corvette proposed by Damen of the Netherlands. The corvettes selected by Egypt would be of the "Combat" type as the vessels are set to be fitted by MBDA's VL Mica surface to air and Exocet anti-ship missiles.[1][8][12] Egypt is in talks to buy two additional corvettes.[13][14]

In April 2015, DCNS started cutting metal for the very first Gowind 2500 corvette under construction in Lorient, in the presence of high representatives of the Egyptian Navy. Construction of the first vessel will take 29 months, it is the first of a series of four units that will be delivered to Egypt before 2019. The corvette's first block was laid in the dry dock in September 2015.[15] Vessel launch is planned to take place in September 2016.[16][17]

In April 2016, Alexandria Shipyard started cutting metal for the first Gowind 2500 corvette built in Egypt, in the presence of high representatives of the Egyptian Navy and of DCNS technical assistance and management teams. DCNS has sent supervision and technical assistance teams to Alexandria for the construction of three corvettes through technology transfer, and will deliver all technical data required for the construction of the corvettes as well as necessary components. DCNS also provides training of the Egyptian shipyard staff at DCNS site in Lorient.[18]

Name Pennant no. Laid down Launched Commissioned Homeport
Gowind 2500 (1) 16 April 2015 [19] September 2016 [20]
Gowind 2500 (2) 16 April 2016 [21]
Gowind 2500 (3)
Gowind 2500 (4)

Malaysia

See Second Generation Patrol Vessel

Malaysia is designing and building 6 stealth frigates displacing 3100 tons, based on the design of the Gowind corvette.[22]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Cabirol, Michel (15 September 2014). "Armement : nouveaux clins d'oeil de l'Egypte à la France" (in French). La Tribune. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  2. ↑ Cabirol, Michel (5 March 2014). "L'Egypte sur le point de s'offrir quatre Gowind de DCNS pour 1 milliard d'euros" (in French). La Tribune. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "Egyptian Navy would be about to order 4 to 6 Gowind Combat Corvettes from DCNS". 5 March 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Products - Corvettes". DCNS. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "At Balt military expo 2014 DCNS unveiled the new Gowind 1000 corvette". navyrecognition.com. 11 July 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Blama, Andrea. "CAMCOPTER S-100 Integration into DCNS New Class of Offshore Patrol Vessel" (PDF). Schiebel. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  7. ↑ "Gowind Corvettes, France". naval-technology.com. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  8. 1 2 Mackenzie, Christina (6 June 2014). "Egypt buys four Gowind corvettes". Aviation Week. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ "Egyptian Navy would be about to order 4 to 6 Gowind Combat Corvettes from DCNS". navyrecognition.com. 5 March 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  13. ↑ "Egyptians are in Paris to negotiate the purchase of two Mistral". latribune.fr (in French). 22 September 2015.
  14. ↑ "Diplomat: France Is In Talks With Egypt For New Corvette Sale". defensenews.com. 25 July 2015.
  15. ↑ "The future Egyptian #Gowind corvette is taking shape at DCNS Lorient.". twitter.com/dcnsgroup. 30 September 2015.
  16. ↑ "The Gowind® Combat System: A Recipe For Success". dcnsgroup.com. 19 February 2016.
  17. ↑ "DCNS STARTS THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST GOWIND® 2500 CORVETTE FOR THE EGYPTIAN NAVY". dcnsgroup.com. 16 April 2015.
  18. ↑ "BEGINNING OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST GOWIND® 2500 CORVETTE BUILT IN EGYPT". dcnsgroup.com. 17 April 2016.
  19. ↑ "DCNS STARTS THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST GOWIND® 2500 CORVETTE FOR THE EGYPTIAN NAVY". dcnsgroup.com. 16 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "THE GOWIND® COMBAT SYSTEM: A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS.". dcnsgroup.com. 19 February 2016.
  21. ↑ "BEGINNING OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST GOWIND® 2500 CORVETTE BUILT IN EGYPT". dcnsgroup.com. 17 April 2016.
  22. ↑ "Royal Malaysian Navy Releases First Official Image of its LCS-SGPV Corvette". navyrecognition.com. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.

External links

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