Thursday 15 October 2020

Victory-Class Missile Corvettes : Crooked Masts And Other Quirky Stuff ...




Missile Corvette P88 RSS Victory in its original configuration
Photo : Lurssen





The Victory-class missile corvette ( MCV ) of the Republic of Singapore Navy ( RSN ) might be small but do not let its size fool you. At 530 tonnes, these tiny multi-role platforms are not much bigger than the fast attack crafts favoured by many small navies of the world but they do pack a huge punch and could pose a serious threat to much larger opponents.

Based on the MGB 62 design by German shipbuilder Lurssen Werft, in its original configuration, its impressive list of capabilities included anti-surface warfare ( ASuW ), anti-submarine warfare ( ASW ), anti-air warfare ( AAW ) and electronic warfare ( EW ), encompassing the domains of  maritime surveillance / interdiction and confined / shallow waters operations.

First commissioned 30 years ago in 1990, the missile corvettes are fast approaching the end of their service life. The RSN plans to retire them by 2025 and replace them with a new class of warships known as multi-role combat vessels ( MRCV ). That timeline has since been revised and postponed for another 5 years to 2030.

We look at the history and evolution of the Victory-class missile corvette through some quirky facts that you may not have known.




Missile Corvette RSS Vengeance at Ex Kakadu 2008
Source : Royal Australian Navy


It All Started With The MGB



The RSN ordered its first generation missile equipped vessels, the Sea Wolf-class missile gunboat ( MGB ) in 1968 and had integrated and commissioned them between 1975 and 1976. They were armed with the Gabriel anti-ship missile ( AShM ) of Israeli origin. The Gabriel was the world's first operational sea-skimming AShM and had already proven its worth during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 in the Battle of Latakia. The use of semi-active radar homing meant that the MGB would have to track the target with its fire control radar and issue guidance command to the missile in flight. The Gabriel consequently has a maximum range of only 20km, limited by the radar horizon.

Operating these warships with then rather complex weapon systems allowed the RSN to acquire the technological expertise and nurture a core group of combat officers and technical personnel who were able to effectively operate and maintain sophisticated weapons system and platforms. The experience and knowledge gained from the MGB acquisition and integration also gave the RSN confidence to define and design its next generation surface combatant, the missile corvette, based on its unique littoral operational requirements.



Maintaining The Technological Edge



Although the RSN was the first among the South East Asian navies to operate missile boats and the first to have successfully test fired an AShM in 1974, it quickly found itself operationally disadvantaged barely a few years later when a regional near-peer entity acquired a longer range AShM with active radar homing and advanced fire control radar. It was felt that the shorter range of the Gabriel represented a significant handicap and the RSN conducted a study in 1979 to build three 57m boats armed with longer range active radar homing missiles. Another option was to upgrade the existing MGB by removing two to three of the Gabriel missiles and replacing them with more advanced active homing missiles.

The decision to upgrade the MGB came in early 1983, but the RSN ditched the proposed 57m craft and instead decided in December 1983 on acquiring six larger 62m missile corvettes. The anti-ship missile system selected for both the MGB upgrade and the MCV was the McDonnell Douglas ( now Boeing ) RGM-84 Harpoon.


RSN's New Found Mission


Apart from being inadvertently caught up in a regional AShM arms race, justification for procuring the missile corvettes also came in the early eighties when the RSN, having lost its sense of purpose and direction after a long period of preoccupation with policing and patrolling the coastal waters of Singapore especially during the Vietnamese boat people refugee crisis, suddenly discovered it had a critical role to play in keeping Singapore's sea lines of communication ( SLOC ) open as the island nation's trade dependent economy, its energy needs and food imports were entirely reliant on the premise of free and open navigation on the high seas. This realization of the RSN's strategic role was accredited to Mr Peter Ho, then Head of Naval Plans Department, who examined Singapore's trade statistics and discovered the importance of the shipping lanes to the survival and security of Singapore.

In line with this new found vision and responsibility, the RSN could no longer remain a coastal navy contented with near shore operations. Bigger warships with better seakeeping characteristics would be required in order to operate effectively up to a thousand kilometers or more away from the home base. With a length of 45m and displacing just 270 tonnes the MGBs were really more suitable for littoral operations.

At the same time the threat that submarines posed to the trade routes became ever more real as regional navies modernize and either acquired, expanded or upgraded their submarine fleets. This meant that the corvettes would have to have anti-submarine capabilities as well, a first for the RSN.


The V-class MCV



The first corvette was built and launched in Germany in 1988 while the remaining five were constructed domestically by Singapore Shipbuilding and Engineering ( now known as Singapore Technology Marine ). The first three corvettes were commissioned in 1990 while the rest were commissioned a year later.

They all had names starting with the letter V - Victory, Valour, Vigilance, Valiant, Vigour and Vengeance. Apart from the first-in-class RSS Victory, the other 5 ships had their names chosen by the public through a name-the-ship competition in Jan 1988. The series of names that were pre-selected included RSS Vampire, RSS Vulcan and RSS Vendetta but the participants were free to submit other names as long as it began with the letter V. In those pre-internet days, the entry forms had to be distributed nationwide at major shopping malls, libraries and community centres. They also appeared in newspapers and even the Ministry of Defense's own publication the Pioneer magazine. By April, the RSN had received more than 24000 entries. The prizes were sponsored by the builder of the corvettes, SSE.

The six missile corvettes form the 188 Squadron / 8th Flotilla of the RSN based at Tuas Naval Base in the south-western part of Singapore. This year marks the 30th anniversary for the MCV as well as the 188th Squadron.



Name Our Ships competition entry slip circa 1988
Photo : RSN



The Tall Mast



During the age of sail, the mast was an essential part of the ship whose purpose was to carry the sail and by virtue of its height the best position to display navigation lights, signal flags and the best position to place lookouts and snipers. The biggest sailing vessels frequently have multiple masts and they are usually constructed of solid timber.

Modern vessels in contrast have masts not to carry sails but to house electronic equipment necessary for navigation and warfighting in the case of naval vessels. Height still matters as many of these devices operate by line of sight principles and the higher up you position them the greater their effectiveness or the better the range. Navigation radar, fire control radar, surface and air search radar, electro-optic sensors, communications antennae, electronic counter-measure and electronic support measure devices are among the myriad of equipment found on or within the hollow structure of the mast proper. Naval vessels have the tallest masts. If you spot a ship from afar and it has a tall mast, chances are it would be a man-of-war.

The most striking thing a person would notice when looking at the profile view or the silhouette of the Victory-class corvette is the disproportionately tall mast in relation to the length of the hull. While the MCV has a length of 62m, the combined height of the main mast and auxiliary mast could reach about 36m above the waterline. It never failed to remind me of the World War II Japanese battleships with their pagoda superstructures.

It was as if the marine architects had taken the blue prints of a 1200-tonne corvette, kept all the weapons and sensors as it were, left the mast intact but had shrunken the hull. So you end up with a warship that packed the firepower of a corvette but housed in the body of a gunboat. After all, the MCV was based on Lurssen Werft's MGB 62 design with the MGB presumably meaning missile gunboat and 62 indicating the length of the design in meters.

The mast of the Victory-class MCV is so tall and is crammed with so many electronic devices that it has a tendency to make the corvette seem top heavy and perhaps contribute to a higher tendency to roll in adverse weather conditions. Having said that, the MCV has been known to roll more than 40 degrees both ways during a tropical storm, causing pots and pans to tumble in the galley and lookouts on the bridge to have to grip the railings tight. Yet, miraculously the corvette would right itself after each swell to see another day. After all the MCV hull is constructed of light gauge steel built around a special longitudinal framing system for ruggedness and good sea keeping characteristics, with the superstructure being constructed using marine grade aluminium alloy. Accordingly, the MCV is able to withstand conditions up to sea state 5. Kudos to the naval architects who designed the ship.




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RSS Valiant, KD Jebat and HMAS Ballarat at Ex Kakadu 2005.
 Note the VDS at the stern and the tall mast.
Photo : Royal Australian Navy


The Crooked Auxiliary Mast



In its original configuration before the Ship Life Extension Program ( SLEP ) upgrades, the MCV had a rather signature angled auxiliary mast which towered above the main mast. This slanting was necessary to minimize electromagnetic interference ( EMI ) among the various radars, ESM and ECM installations within or atop the main mast.

The MCV's mast can be broadly divided into two parts - the main mast and the auxiliary mast. The main mast is part of the ship structure and supports the heaviest electronic devices. Its top platform bears the rotating Ericsson Sea Giraffe 150HC air and surface search radar while the front and back facing tracking / fire-control radars are installed on lower pedestals in front of and behind the mast proper. To create even higher points for the placement of ESM and tactical communications intelligence ( TACOMINT ) antennae, the auxiliary mast is installed above the main mast from a position posterior to the search radar.    

In order to minimise EMI between the various installations, the electronic experts at DSO National Laboratories determined that there was a necessity for the ESM and TACOMINT antennae to be placed concentric with the search radar's centre of rotation. Hence the naval architects engineered a customised slanted auxiliary mast with carefully calculated lengths and slant angles to place the antennae directly above the rotating radar. The auxiliary mast was constructed using materials with the desirable mechanical strength, rigidity and fatigue lifespan to hold not only these antennae and their connecting cables but also the navigation radar.

With the SLEP, much of the original mast mounted equipment have been upgraded or replaced and the legacy EMI considerations no longer existed. The auxiliary mast was therefore straightened, leading to a more normal appearance. Thus looking at the numerous MCV photos, the alignment of the auxiliary mast gives immediate information whether it was a pre or post SLEP ship. 



Pre-SLEP RSS Vigour with slanted auxiliary mast



C Band Surveillance Radar



Larger warships such as destroyers and frigates tend to have their primary surveillance radars operating at the lower frequencies of S Band or L Band for superior detection range. However these lower frequency radars require large ( and therefore heavy ) antennae in order to achieve better angular resolution. As physical size and weight are major limiting factors for many naval applications on small vessels, the C Band surveillance radar system selected for the MCV is a calculated compromise between range and resolution within the loading constrains imposed on the main mast. 

The MCVs were originally equipped with the Ericsson ( now SAAB ) Sea Giraffe 150HC operating in C Band ( NATO G/H Band ) as their main air and surface search radar. It was a small, medium ranged 2D naval radar that is suitable for installation on small surface combatants. It is said to have a maximum instrumented detection range of 130km against fighter aircraft and 7km against very small, stealthy airborne targets.

With the SLEP, the corvettes had their radar system upgraded to the SAAB Sea Giraffe AMB ( Agile Multi-Beam ) which is an advanced 3D active phase array radar operating in the same G/H Band ( old IEEE nomenclature C Band ) between 5.4GHz to 5.9GHz. This multi-role, medium range surveillance radar has a high update rate and is optimised for detecting small air and surface targets, including sea-skimming missiles, in all kinds of environment including the littorals. The instrumented rage of the Sea Giraffe AMB is 180km. 


Post-SLEP RSS Valiant with Sea Giraffe AMB atop main mast.
Note straight auxiliary mast. Photo : Mindef


The Fish



Another unique feature of the Victory-class MCV was the presence of a white ovoid structure with fins at the stern. This was the Thomson Sintra TSM 2064 variable depth sonar ( VDS ) used to detect submarines a.k.a. the Fish. It can be deployed in either active or passive listening modes and was designed to be effective for shallow littoral waters. As the name implies, the VDS can be deployed at different depths beneath the ocean to penetrate different thermal and salinity layers, something which a hull-mounted sonar cannot do.

The naval architects had already done simulations and determined that hull-mounted sonars were not compatible with the hull form and operational profile of the MCV. Fortunately the TSM 2064 is small and light enough to be installed onboard small vessels like the MCV. The Victory-class corvettes are probably among the smallest ships equipped with VDS.

Together with its triple barrel torpedo launchers, the VDS was central to the anti-submarine capability of the MCV. 

Note that the Fish and the torpedo launchers were removed during the SLEP of the MCV between 2011 - 2013, taking away the ASW capabilities of the corvettes. Instead, the MCV gain a new capability in the form of the ScanEagle UAV.



RSS Vengeance with VDS at the stern during Ex Kakadu 2008.
Image : Royal Australian Navy


Unmanned Aerial Vehicles



It might surprise you but the naval architects had made design provisions for the MCV to operate unmanned rotary aircrafts. However, those provisions were not activated as the UAV technology was not mature enough then to produce viable candidates for deployment on a small naval platform like the MCV. One hurdle was the very low reliability of the unmanned rotary system, with very short mean time between failure. Another issue was the prohibitive cost involved in implementing a then immature technology. So it wasn't until early 2009 that ship-based trials with the ScanEagle UAV were successfully conducted on the flight decks of RSN's LST and frigate. Only upon completion of the MCV's life extension program between 2011 and 2013 did we see the addition of the UAV capability to the corvettes.

The ScanEagle is a small, long endurance, low altitude UAV derived from the SeaScan UAV originally used by commercial fishermen to track schools of tuna. It has a wing-span of 3.1m, a length of 1.6m and weighs about 20kg. Its cruising speed is around 55 knots. It has a maximum range of more than 100km and an endurance of about 20 hours. Its service ceiling is about 16000ft. The UAV requires no flight deck or runway and is instead launched by a catapult and recovered by a proprietary SkyHook retrieval system.




The ScanEagle on its launcher on the aft deck of the MCV
flanked on both sides by 8 cell Barak VLS. Photo : RSN
 




Initially a land-based commercial off-the-shelf UAV system, even when adapted for naval use, the ScanEagle is usually deployed on the wide flight deck of large vessels such as frigates and never on smaller vessels the size of the MCV. The MCV never had a flight deck to start off with and its confined aft deck area had to support different activities including missile firing, sea boat launch and recovery, and mooring operations. Installing the ScanEagle launcher in its original configuration would have taken up too much space and would have prevented the undertaking of other deck activities. Instead, the naval engineers of the DSO National Laboratories came up with the idea of a modified launcher mounted on a customized turntable. Controlled rotation of the launcher would create an optimized UAV launch envelop while stowing it when not in use would create the necessary clearances for the firing of the Barak missiles and other deck operations. UAV operations can be conducted even under high sea state conditions as the turntable launcher is always firmly secured to the ship deck even when rotating. This innovative launch system also reduces the launch preparation time by 90% and can be operated by just a single ship crew instead of the usual three man team.




ScanEagle recovery with the SkyHook onboard RSS Valour.
RSN Photo.




Similarly, the SkyHook arrestor system for the recovery of the UAV had also been specially modified for the MCV. It would normally occupy an area of 25m2 but was re-engineered to be extendable for recovery operations and retractable for stowage with a reduced footprint of just 10m2. Despite this, the lack of open space on the aft deck still required the modification of the ScanEagle's flight path to be at an angle to the ship during retrieval in order to minimise safety risks. The SkyHook is mounted on the starboard side of the corvette close to when the torpedo launchers once stood.

The significance of the ScanEagle UAV is that it gives the MCV a surveillance capability that is organic to the ship, thus drastically increasing the situation awareness level of the ship crew. Flying ahead of the ship, the UAV provides, among other things, live video feeds of its surroundings. The ship therefore no longer needs to solely rely on the maritime patrol aircraft or third party inputs for information on its immediate threat environment and target coordinates. The ScanEagle can instead be deployed as long as weather conditions permit. It will allow the MCV to maintain its over-the-horizon surveillance and targeting capabilities even when operating far away from its home base, out of range of any supporting MPA.


Maritime Patrol Aircraft



The Republic of Singapore Air Force acquired six Short SH-7 Skyvan in 1973 ( three 3M-400-15 and three 3M-400-16 variants ) and conducted the first airborne maritime surveillance operation in 1975. Although the Harpoon AShM of the MCV is said to give it a beyond the horizon strike capability, the shipboard radar does not have that over-the-horizon detection range. In order to fully harness the long range strike capability of the Harpoon, the MCV needs help from maritime patrol aircraft to provide it with target coordinates. The MCV is therefore designed to work with the RSAF's Skyvan MPA and later its replacement, the Fokker F-50 Enforcer MPA, by means of secure digital communication and data link. 



Short SH-7 Skyvan Maritime Patrol Aircaft.
Photo : RSAF


RSAF 121 Squadron Fokker F-50 Enforcer MPA
Photo : Jun You via Jetphoto




Airborne Early Warning Aircraft



The MCVs were also upgraded to link up with the now retired E-2C Hawkeye AEW. The APS-138 surveillance radar of the E-2C provides automatic detection and tracking of targets over water and over land up to 200 nautical miles ( 360km ) which is much further than the detection range of the mast-mounted Sea Giraffe 150HC or even the Sea Giraffe AMB air and surface search radar of the MCV. The E-2C has now been replaced by the Gulfstream G550 CAEW.   


Harpoon Missiles



The MCV's 2 deck-mounted MK-141 quad Harpoon canister launchers pack a total of 8 RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles which are capable of hitting ships beyond the horizon, up to 70 nautical miles away. The Harpoon AShM was selected for the RSN's MGB upgrade as well as the MCV project. They are probably the RGM-84D ( Block 1C ) version which was state-of-the-art during the late eighties. It uses inertial guidance mid-course and active radar homing for terminal guidance. A direct hit by a single missile could cripple a medium sized surface combatant such as a frigate and 2 or 3 hits would probably sink it. After three decades in service, the Harpoon launchers still adorns the decks of the MCV with no plans to replace them. 

MCV Harpoon missile firing. Photo : Mindef





Barak Missiles



The Barak missile of Israeli origin can be used against low flying aircraft and also as point defense against incoming missiles and projectiles. They are launched from 2 banks of 8-cell vertical launch unit located at the aft deck. The missile has a minimum effective range of 500m and maximum effective range of 10 - 12km. The Barak is a low cost, low maintenance air defense system and comes with its own set of fire control radar and optronic directors which can be seen mounted on the roof above the bridge of the MCV. It provides the ship with an automated, all-weather, 360 degree azimuth anti-missile capability.

The Barak system was still in development when the MCVs were commissioned in 1990 but provisions had been made by the naval architects for the installation of a hard-kill point defense system. Singapore was said to have actively participated in the joint development of the Barak system with IAI and Rafael. It was specially tailored for small ships and the RSN's unique operating environment. The Barak system was eventually acquired by the RSN in 1996 and retrofitted on all six corvettes. The first successful firing of the Barak missile by the RSN took place on 10th Sep 1997 in the South China Sea. Launched from RSS Valour, a Barak missile successfully intercepted an airborne target simulating a modern sea-skimming missile in both size and speed at a range of 6km.



Barak missile launch by RSS Vigour during Ex Simbex 2018
Photo : RSN




Oto Melara Main Gun



The Oto Melara Super Rapid 76mm 62 caliber naval gun is probably the biggest caliber a small ship can accommodate. It is compact enough not to require too much space below deck for installation. Not surprisingly, many navies have adopted the Oto Melara 76mm in its various forms on their small vessels. The Super Rapid has a firing rate of 120 rounds per minute and is effective against air and surface targets up to 16km away. Depending on the ammunition used, it may even be effective for short range point defense against missiles. Although it has a very high rate of fire, in practice the Super Rapid is frequently fired in short burst of three rounds. On the MCV the Oto Melara is mounted on the foredeck immediately in front of the bridge and any live firing is guaranteed to be a smoky and noisy affair.


Oto Melara 76mm Super Rapid on RSS Valour
Photo : Wikipedia


The muzzle cover of the 76mm Oto Melara Main Gun
Photo : Mindef


Rotating magazine of the Oto Melara 76mm seen below deck 
of a Formidable-class frigate. Photo : RSN



Torpedoes



Before the SLEP the corvettes had the Whitehead Alenia A244-S Mod 1 torpedo for use against submarines. These 324mm light weight torpedoes are stored and launched from two EuroTorp B515 triple tube launchers mounted on the deck of the MCV aft of the Harpoon missile canisters. They have a maximum range of 6000m and can reach a max depth of 600m, which is a lot deeper than the regional waters around Singapore. It has a maximum speed of 30 knots and has both active and passive acoustic homing capabilities. Their removal during the SLEP signaled the end of ASW operations for the MCV. This role was transferred to the Formidable-class stealth frigates, RSN next generation surface combatant.


Whitehead Alenia A244S torpedo.
Photo : Leonardo




Heavy Machine Guns



Four CIS 12.7mm ( 0.5inch ) heavy machine guns are mounted along the bridge wing to guard against small crafts, swimmers and anything that is close enough but not worth expanding a shell or missile on. 



CIS 12.7mm HMG on the bridge wing of RSS Valiant.
Photo : RSN


Complement



The MCV's complement of 46 includes 7 to 8 officers - commanding officer, executive officer, operations officer, navigation officer, communications officer, weapon electronics officer, marine engineer officer and occasionally an auxiliary officer. The medical officer is not part of the ship's peacetime complement. 

Since 2015 the RSN has began the deployment of reservist naval officers and ratings to fill every post on some of the MCVs. At least two teams had been created and both had achieved operational readiness status. They are held to the same high standards expected of their regular counterparts.



The bridge of RSS Valour during an encounter exercise with
 the Australian Navy, Ex Singaroo 2020. Photo : RSN



The multi-function ward room where visitors can be received
and officers can have their meals and discussions. Photo : RSN 



Longest Serving Ship Class In The RSN



Commissioned 30 years ago, the MCVs currently reign as the longest serving class of ships in the RSN. They are not the oldest vessels still in active service though. That honour probably goes to the Challenger-class submarines which were originally commissioned by the Swedish Navy in 1968 and 1969. 


The Fastest Ship In The RSN



Powered by 4 MTU 16V 538 TB93 Diesels the MCV has a top speed " in excess of 30 knots " in the usually vague and non-committal MINDEF speak. It currently holds the crown for the fastest class of ship within the RSN. Only the Sea Wolf-class missile gunboat was faster but they have all been decommissioned in 2008. 

When the corvette is at speed these German diesels produce a high pitch whine that is almost soothing to the ears, like a lullaby, so long as you are not in the engine room. The capability of performing high speed dashes is central to the " sprint and drift " tactic used in ASW operations but is probably most appreciated by all onboard during the return leg of an extended sea deployment. Frequently the MCV will be the first vessel type to reach home waters after the conclusion of a large scale naval exercise that involves multiple ship classes, like Exercise Starfish under the Five Power Defense Arrangement.


The cramped engine room with MTU diesels. Photo : Mindef


Best Ship Award


In the past 30 years since their commissioning, the MCVs clinched a total of 16 awards in the annual Singapore Armed Forces Best Unit Competition. RSS Vigour, the winner of this year's Best Fleet Unit Award, accounted for a quarter of these with a total of four awards so far.



RSS Vigour proudly wears the Battle Effectiveness big E logo.
Photo : Mindef



Ship Life Extension Program



The SLEP extends the operational lifespan of the corvettes and through the introduction of advanced surveillance, communications, as well as command and control systems, also allows them to be incorporated into the Integrated Knowledge-based Command and Control ( IKC2 ) capabilities of the third generation Singapore Armed Forces. First made public in 2009, the MCV SLEP was completed by September 2013 with RSS Valour being the final ship that was upgraded. 

Though the corvettes lost their anti-submarine role with the removal of the torpedo launchers and the variable depth sonar, they gained a new capability in the form of the ScanEagle UAV. The search radar was upgraded from the Sea Giraffe 150HC to the Sea Giraffe AMB. These changes enhanced the corvette's surveillance capabilities and allowed them to " see further ".

The combat management system ( CMS ) was also revamped with a customised solution that helps the Combat Information Centre ( CIC ) team to make faster and more effective decisions. Indigenously developed by the Defense Science Technology Agency ( DSTA ) and DSO National Laboratories, the CMS has a decision support engine for data fusion, identification and threat evaluation to allow the ship crew to quickly and accurately grasp the tactical situation around the corvette. The upgraded CMS utilizes ethernet LAN instead of serial links of the legacy CMS and this broader bandwidth allows it to handle significantly more tracks and transfer data at higher speeds. It enhances the depth and the timeliness of the information presented to the ship's command team. The capabilities of this enhanced MCV CMS is said to be on par with those installed on RSN's Formidable-class stealth frigates, not at all surprising since the CMS of both ship classes are designed by the same people!


RSS Vengeance high and dry at Changi Naval Base during IMDEX 2019. 
Seldom does one get to see the keel. Photo : MDC



RSS Vengeance, RSS Victory and the stern of RSS Stalwart
during IMDEX 2019. Photo : MDC


Changi Naval Base day before IMDEX 2019
The crooked ships and wharf are artifacts


An enlarged image of the above.






The Last Leg



If anything this article should have illustrated how much thought and detailed planning had gone into the missile corvette project from the initial conceptualization to acquisition, construction and henceforth just so that these tiny warships can achieve their greatest efficiency and always remain relevant to the Singapore Navy. 

However, after 30 years of service with the RSN, the MCVs are beginning to face obsolescence even with the SLEP. Parts and components become harder to procure as time progresses and the cost of maintenance increases exponentially as the ship ages. There is also only so much that a non-stealthy old hull can be upgraded given physical and electrical limitations. Originally planned to be phased out in 2025, the COVID-19 pandemic probably brought the MCVs some reprieve as their retirement has now been postponed to 2030. This new deadline will probably represent the final extension of service as the SLEP upgrades were projected to last for a maximum of 20 years, at most. The corvettes will eventually be replaced by the multi-role combat vessel ( MRCV ), a yet-to-be-revealed design featuring stealth technology and the capability to be a mothership of sorts to airborne, surface and sub-surface unmanned platforms. Until then, the MCVs will continue to protect the vital SLOC which connects Singapore to the rest of the globe. Bravo Zulu to all from the 188 Squadron, past and present, for a job well done!

 





 







Thursday 3 September 2020

Blue Spear : Is Singapore Ditching The Harpoon?




Harpoon Block II. Image : Boeing


On 15th July 2020 Singapore Technologies Engineering ( STE ) announced that its Land Systems division has signed an agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries ( IAI ) to set up a joint venture in Singapore, with each having a 50 percent share. The joint venture, named Proteus Advanced Systems, will leverage the strengths and track record of its parent companies to market and sell advanced naval missile systems, including a next generation anti-ship missile ( AShM ) system.

Under its Land Systems arm, STE manufactures an entire range of NATO-standard ammunition from the humble 5.56mm ball M193 round to 155mm artillery shells but anti-ship missiles are definitely not its forte. IAI on the other hand can be considered the pioneer in anti-ship missiles having developed the very successful and war-proven Gabriel missile since 1970.

As revealed by STE to Defense News, it appears that the two defense giants have been collaborating to develop a new generation AShM known as Blue Spear for a few years. Also known as 5G SSM ( 5th generation surface-to-surface missile ), Blue Spear " is an anti-ship missile system that introduces an advanced and novel approach which addresses the challenges of the modern naval arena for years to come ".

STE's role in the development of Blue Spear includes the design, development and production of major subsystems like the booster motor and warhead. It claimed that the development of Blue Spear and the joint venture was a commercially driven initiative by both companies and is " not driven by any ongoing customer requirement". Or is it? Which of STE or IAI's customers could have a requirement for and could afford an advanced AShM system? What is the best way to market a new weapon system to international customers?

The parent companies of Proteus Advanced Systems are either completely state-owned ( IAI ) or government-linked ( STE ). Although STE is a publicly listed company on the Singapore Stock Exchange, its most substantial shareholder is Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Singapore government, whom as of 1 Apr 2020 has a 52.13% share through direct and deemed interests. STE's most loyal and important customer of course is none other than the Ministry of Defense of Singapore. Similarly, 20% of IAI's sales goes to the Israeli defense ministry and the State of Israel is by no doubt IAI's most important customer.

With regards to the development of Blue Spear, it is probably of no coincidence that both the Israeli Navy and the Singapore Navy are equipped with the ageing Harpoon AShM and will soon have to decide if they should be upgraded to the latest standards or to field a completely new design. The joint venture suggests that the latter is more likely the case.


 
Stealth frigate RSS Intrepid fires Harpoon during Ex Pacific Griffin 2019
Photo : Mindef



The Harpoon In The RSN



The Harpoon is an all-weather, sub-sonic, sea-skimming, over-the-horizon, fire-and-forget anti-ship missile developed and manufactured by McDonnell Douglas ( now Boeing ). It can be considered one of the most commercially successful AShM in history with over 7500 units produced since it came into service with the US Navy in 1977. It has been sold to 31 countries apart from the United States.

The versatility of the Harpoon missile is such that it can be surface-launched, submarine-launched or air-launched, with the variants designated RGM-84, UGM-84 and AGM-84 respectively.

Many factors contributed to the Harpoon's success of which I will mention two. Focusing on the surface-launched version alone, in the early years, it out-ranged its contemporaries with its over-the-horizon capability with a published range of 70nm ( 126km ). Its relative compactness means that it can be launched from canisters bolted to the upper deck of almost any surface combatant from fast attack crafts to battleships.



RSS Victory in its original configuration with Harpoon, torpedo tubes,
variable depth sonar and angled auxiliary mast. Photo : Lurssen



Indeed one of the reasons why the Republic of Singapore Navy ( RSN ) acquired its Victory-class missile corvettes ( MCV ) which are equipped with the Harpoon AShM in the late 1980s was because it found itself having to keep Singapore's sea lines of communication open out to at least a thousand kilometers but its existing Sea Wolf - class missile gunboats ( MGB ) with Gabriel AShM out-ranged by its neighbours. It would later upgrade the MGB to carry a mix of 2 Gabriel and 2 to 4 Harpoon AShM. With a full load displacement of 254 tons and a length of 45 meters, the Sea Wolf - class MGB was probably one of the smallest platform to ever accommodate the Harpoon missile.



Upgraded Sea Wolf class MGB with Harpoon and Gabriel. Photo : Mindef


With the Harpoon AShM, the RSN acquired the beyond-the-horizon capability in anti-surface warfare ( ASuW ) for the first time and for a while it gave the RSN the upper hand when it came to the range of the various AShM among the regional navies. This technological edge however gradually became eroded with the passage of time with the emergence of newer and more advanced AShM in the inventories of its regional peers.

The MGBs were eventually decommissioned in 2008 and were replaced by the Formidable-class stealth frigates which were also armed with the Harpoon missile as their primary ASuW strike weapon. The Harpoon variant on these advanced frigates are sometimes stated as the RGM-84C ( Block 1B ) which are really ancient but are likely to be the marginally more advanced RGM-84D ( Block 1C ) as shown in the photo from MINDEF below. If indeed this were to be true, then the RSN would very soon need to either upgrade these old Harpoons to the latest Block II+ ER standard or risk facing obsolescence.




RSS Stalwart executing a designated time-on-target
Harpoon firing during Ex Pacific Griffin 2017.
RSS Supreme fired the other Harpoon. Photo : Mindef



Enlarged from photo above : RGM-84D-3


It is worth noting that more than a decade had passed since the commissioning of the stealth frigates and they will soon approach the mid-point of their life-cycle, the perfect time to have them acquire new capabilities via some service life extension program ( SLEP ). It has been planned as such even before the frigates have been commissioned ( see image below ).


Excerpt from keynote address by Mr Peter Ho, Permanent Secretary ( Defense )
at the Naval Platform Technology Seminar 2003.
Source : National Archives of Singapore.



After serving in the RSN for thirty years, the Victory-class MCVs are themselves due for retirement by 2025, to be replaced by a new class of locally designed and constructed vessels known as the Multi-Role Combat Vessel ( MRCV ) and these will need to be equipped with modern AShM as well.

So to regain the technological edge it used to have against its regional near-peer rivals the RSN clearly has a need for an advanced surface strike weapon for its frigates and its next-generation corvette replacements in the next 5 to 10 years. For that the RSN has several broad options : upgrade its existing stock of old Harpoons to the latest standard, buy a new missile system off-the-shelf, or opt for an indigenous design customized for itself. Each option has its own merits and risks.


 
RGM-84N Block II Harpoon skimming the waves.
Image : Boeing


Upgrading the Harpoon


Having been designed in the mid-sixties and first deployed in the late seventies, the Harpoon missile might be getting old but it has an undeniable strength - reliability. It simply works as advertised, each time and every time.

During RIMPAC 2018, six Harpoon missiles had been fired against two decommissioned USN ships from various platforms including air, surface and sub-surface assets from several participating nations. All six missiles hit their targets as intended. Especially interesting was the UGM-84 encapsulated harpoon launched by the nuclear attack submarine USS Olympia ( SSN-717 ). The UGM-84 had been taken off the regular armament of USN attack submarines for the past twenty years in favour of the Mk 48 Advanced Capability ( ADCAP ) heavyweight torpedo as the boat's preferred anti-ship weapon. Even after two decades of storage, the Sub-Harpoon scored a hit against the landing ship tank USS Racine. An AGM-84 air-launched Harpoon fired from an Australian P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft also struck the LST hulk.



Simultaneous time-on-target Harpoon firing, RSS Tenacious
RIMPAC 2018. Photo : MINDEF



Notably, the RSN's stealth frigate RSS Tenacious carried out a simultaneous time-on-target Harpoon firing with two missiles aimed at the ex-USS McKlusky, an Oliver Hazard Perry - class frigate. Both missiles happened to hit the hulk at the waterline which was rather unusual for the Harpoon missile. As a result the hulk sank much faster than anticipated and several other naval combatants were deprived of their chance to participate in the sink exercise ( SINKEX ). Through inference the remaining two missiles would have come from a participating USN P-8A.

As a result of this positive demonstration of the Harpoon's reliability, even the USN is showing renewed interest in upgrading the Harpoon missiles in its inventory and the UGM-84 might once again be part of the SSN's offensive weaponry.

The USN has not procured new Harpoon missiles for many years and all its latest Block II Plus Extended Range Harpoons are upgraded from its existing pool of RGM-84D ( Block 1C ) missiles. Each conversion kit from Boeing Defense and Aerospace would cost the US government perhaps $268000, a paltry sum compared to the cost of manufacturing a brand new Block II+ ER missile which is probably in the region of several million. For example Finland's 2018 request for 100 RGM-84Q-4 ( Block II+ ER ), 12 RGM-84L ( Block II ), 12 Block II+ ER upgrade kits, 4 RTM-84Q and 4 RTM-84L together with all the necessary spares, repair equipment, training and support was estimated to cost US$622 million.

Compared with the older Harpoon versions, the most advanced II+ER has a lighter but more lethal warhead and a more fuel efficient turbojet engine that together almost doubled its range. It also inherited the low cost inertial measurement unit from the JDAM program and the GPS guidance kit of the SLAM-ER missile. A net-enabled data-link enables the missile to receive in-flight targeting updates and there is also enhanced resistance against electronic countermeasures. So not only is its range increased, its connectivity and survivability has also been improved significantly.

Should the RSN choose to upgrade its RGM-84D Harpoons to the latest Block II+ ER standard, there will be considerable cost savings since it has a ready pool of Block 1C Harpoons to work on with all the necessary maintenance, repair, training and support infrastructures. But how many new tricks can you teach an old dog? One of the negative attributes of the Harpoon not amendable through the usual upgrades is its sub-sonic speed in this modern era of super-sonic AShMs. Being slower means giving the enemy combatants more reaction time to deploy countermeasures and initiate effective evasive maneuvers. It is also less stealthy compared to more recently introduced AShMs like the AGM-158C LRASM and can be detected more easily, reducing its chance of hitting its target. The need for a proprietary launcher for the Harpoon missile alone which cannot be loaded with other shipboard missile types means less flexibility in deployment and dedicated instead of shared resources and that can also work against the upgrade-harpoon option.




IAI Gabriel V AShM. Image : Finnish Navy



Off-The-Shelf Solutions


After half a century of evolution, there is currently no shortage of modern AShMs that can give the ageing Harpoon missile a run for its money. In fact many do out perform the Harpoon in one way or other. The Norwegian Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile and the IAI's Gabriel V AShM are two such examples contemporary sub-sonic anti-ship missiles. Examples of supersonic AShMs include Taiwan's Hsiung Feng III and the vertical launched Brahmos which is of Indian and Russian origin.

Buying mature anti-ship missile systems that have already completed their development cycles offers the lowest exposure to product development risks. It may result in rapid system integration and mitigation of any existing capability gap. However such ready solutions may not always be an exact match for the sometimes unique operational needs of the host country.

Singapore for instance has the great fortune of being strategically located along an important maritime route linking the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean where an estimated 5.3 trillion dollars of trade transit annually. It is the world's second busiest container port and is surrounded by shallow seas and numerous islands. Access to the Port of Singapore is via the narrow and busy deep water passage known as the Straits of Singapore where an estimated 2000 vessels of all types transit daily. Together with the equally busy Straits of Malacca to its north-west, these are major maritime choke points where the risk of piracy and the risk of collision between vessels are high. To conduct maritime interdiction operations in such congested littoral environments would be understandably challenging. Yet the RSN also has to be equally proficient in open-ocean operations in deep water environments such as the South China Sea, since its raison d'etre is to keep Singapore's sea lines of communications open. To find an anti-ship missile that can excel in both littoral and open-ocean domains may not be easy and since the RSN has such unique requirements, it might have decided to develop its own next-generation AShM rather than source for a ready made system.

 
 

Extreme congestion in Singapore Strait. Image : Marine Traffic


USS John S McCain damaged below the waterline after collision with
oil tanker in Singapore territorial waters near Pedra Branca 21 Aug 2017.
 Note the deck mounted Mk 141 quad Harpoon launchers. USN Photo. 



5G SSM



To have local defense engineers research and co-develop the next generation advanced anti-ship missile for Singapore probably made the most sense for the reasons mentioned above. Apart from ensuring complete customization for its operational requirements, designing and producing an indigenous AShM can also benefit the local state-linked defense industry by diversifying its product portfolio and allowing it to nurture new talents and acquire new design and manufacturing capabilities.

The setup of a joint venture between the Israeli and Singapore defense giants to market the 5G SSM and the tacit admission that the collaboration had been ongoing for a few years probably means that the missile is already in an advance stage of product development. As usual it is a matter of selecting the best time to make the official announcement so as to avoid alarming Singapore's regional peers least it triggers an arms race which is likely inevitable in the long run. Even then, the announcement was extremely low key appearing only on the webpages of IAI and STE and in a short article in the Straits Times of Singapore. So far almost nothing is known about the Blue Spear missile except it has advanced features to overcome the challenges of modern naval warfare. Here are some characteristics that the 5G SSM could possibly have.


Range - likely to be significantly greater than that of the current RGM-84D in the RSN's inventory to keep pace with the NSM, MM-40 Block 3, Otomat Mk2 and even the supersonic Yakhont, in service with regional navies. 200 to 250km is a reasonable estimate.

Speed - Likely to remain high sub-sonic rather than super-sonic considering that the RSN's area of operation included congested littoral environment.

Survivability - Must include low observability features with reduced radar cross section and infra-red signatures to decrease the detection rate and have enhanced electronic counter countermeasures to defeat the enemy ship's soft-kill and hard-kill capabilities.

Connectivity - Secure 2-way data-link to enable mid-flight course correction and to receive targeting updates from a variety of sources including surface combatants, maritime patrol aircrafts and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Accuracy - Possibly an AI selectable hybrid terminal guidance combining active and passive modes

Lethality - Advanced warhead design effective against both ship hulls and hardened land installations.

Versatility - Equally adept in littoral and open-ocean environments with secondary land attack capabilities.

Deployability - Preferably adaptable for both large and small vessels, compatible with both vertical launch systems and canister launchers.


Whatever its final form takes, the Blue Spear has to be far superior to the Harpoon Block 1C that it will presumably replace, by virtue of its adoption of the latest technologies which was not available to the designers of the Harpoon four decades ago. It should also have better performance compared to the most advanced Harpoon Block II+ER. With this rationale the RSN will probably be better off developing a cutting edge new generation AShM rather than upgrading its old Harpoons.

Having the Singapore and Israeli Navies adopt the 5G SSM can potentially make it easier to market the missile to other international customers. Endorsement of the weapon by two of the world's highly regarded navies is the best advertisement for this new missile system. While the Harpoon missile has served the RSN well for the past three decades, without an upgrade, its remaining days might be numbered. It might quietly fade into history in the next five to ten years as the Victory-class MCV gets decommissioned and the Formidable-class frigates get put through their SLEP, swapping the Harpoon for the Blue Spear.


Proteus Advanced Systems


Incidentally, in Greek mythology, Proteus is the oracular god of the sea who can predict the future, but will only do so when held captive. He is elusive and will constantly change his shape in order to avoid being captured. He is the herdsman of the sea beasts, one of several deities whom Homer refers to as " Old Man Of The Sea ". From the capability of Proteus to assume many different forms comes the adjective protean, meaning able to change frequently or easily, with the connotation of versatility, adaptability and flexibility. By naming their joint venture Proteus Advanced Systems what might IAI and STE be hinting at, if any?

 

Update 10th Sep 2020


I have received information that the scheduled retirement of the Victory-class missile corvettes have been pushed back by a good 5 years, from the original 2025 to 2030. This will be the final and maximum extension of service. The MLU carried out around 2010 was supposed to extend the service life of the MCV by 20 years at the most.

Presumably the MRCV project will also be delayed by 5 years since they are meant to replace the MCV.

So it would seem that the Harpoon missile will continue to reign in the RSN for another decade .... but highly unlikely beyond that.








Wednesday 5 August 2020

Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome By Night

 
 
 

 
 
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, commonly known as the Atomic Bomb Dome or Genbaku Dome is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Japan. Originally constructed as a prefectural product exhibition hall in 1915, this severely damaged concrete building was the only structure left standing near the hypocenter of the atomic bomb which destroyed Hiroshima on 6th Aug 1945.
 
Not only did the building survive the atomic bomb, it also somehow managed to escape the fate of demolition during the post-war reconstruction of Hiroshima. In fact it had been preserved in more or less its original state with minor repairs done only to ensure its stability. Much of the area around it though had been re-developed as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. That's where the Peace Memorial Museum, the Cenotaph and a long list of monuments to commemorate the atomic bomb victims are located.
 
The Atomic Bomb Dome has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage since 1996 and it draws millions of visitors annually. The Memorial Park can be very crowded in the daytime but when night falls peace and serenity returns.
 
To mark the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, here are a series of photographs of the Genbaku Dome taken on a winter's night in December 2018. More of the Atomic Dome and how it survived the nuclear fires can be found in my previous post Hiroshima - 70 Years After The Atomic Bomb.
 
 

 


The good thing about visiting the Genbaku Dome at night was that there was hardly any body around. The usual daytime hustle and bustle was instead replaced by quietness and peace. On a cold winter's night like this everybody else was either at home or enjoying a meal of oysters, a Hiroshima specialty, at some nearby izakaya restaurant. Gone were the maddening crowd and the noise and smell of perspiration that permeated the atmosphere around the Memorial Park.

I had spent the entire day visiting the other famous Hiroshima landmark, the Itsukushima Shrine of Miyajima with friends. They were to leave Hiroshima very early the next day for Okunoshima a.k.a. Rabbit Island but did not want to miss seeing the Atomic Bomb Dome, hence the night trip to the Peace Park.

Without the distraction of other tourists, I began to see the small things that I did not notice before. The area in the vicinity of the Dome was very clean and well kept in general. The trees had mostly lost their leaves and only the bare branches pointed skywards but the flowerbeds were still in full bloom! This attested to the mild winters of western and southern Japan. There were also less vehicles on the road and the air was crisp and fresh.

 

 

On the side of the Atomic Dome facing the Hiroden tram stop, an irregularly shaped piece of granite with the kanji words 慰霊 ( irei - consoling the spirits of the deceased ) stood in front of the Dome like a giant tombstone complete with flowers and other offerings. I felt a sense of eeriness knowing that thousands had died at that exact spot decades ago. It was good that the irei memorial was there to placate the wandering souls.






 
 



The exterior of the Atomic Bomb Dome was well illuminated at night by strategically placed artificial lighting. Footpaths within the Memorial Park were also well lit. Japan has a relatively low crime rate and it is quite safe to walk around the city even at night.





 


Although visitors are not allowed to enter the ruins, they can still see the damage done to the building up close and the skeletal remains of the metal dome on top of the building which gave it its common name.



 
 

 
 
 

The Dome was constructed on the banks of the Motoyasu River ( 元安川 ) and just a hundred meters from it is the T-shaped Aioi Bridge seen in the photo above which was the aiming point for the atomic bomb on that fateful morning 75 years ago. The still air over the river made the water surface into a perfect mirror reflecting the night scenery flawlessly.



 
 

 
 







The photographs above showed the illuminated T-shaped Aioi Bridge ( 相生橋 ) and the exact T-junction used as the bombardier's aiming point. An iconic Hiroden tram could be seen speeding across the bridge. Because it was winter, two bags of salt for de-icing the roads were placed next to the pillar which has the name of the bridge mounted on it. Guess the winter can still be severe occasionally.






It is best to walk across the Aioi Bridge to the opposite bank of the Motoyasu River to see the Atomic Bomb Dome in its entirety. I could take my time to compose the photograph without worrying about other people intruding into my field of view.



The Atomic Bomb Dome in the immediate period after the bomb.
Source : Hiroshima Municipal Archive



The Genbaku Dome was eerily serene and beautiful on that cold winter's night. It stands today as a testimony to the foresight of the people of Hiroshima City to have such an iconic landmark preserved for the benefit of the future generations who may hopefully not have to experience the brutality of war like the Japanese did. As the last of the Hibakusha or atomic bomb victims pass on due to advance age or illnesses, the Atomic Dome becomes ever more important as a symbol to remind the world on nuclear disarmament ...