Esse upgrade às DZP esse sim é um MLU a sério! Ou seja, se conseguirmos comprar os navios mal sejam abatidos ao serviço, teremos navios bastante poderosos.
Eu como engracei com as "Type 31", vou fazer lóbi às mesmas cá no fórum.*
Cada uma sai por 291,85 milhões de euros, sendo que 3 ficavam por 875,55 milhões de euros, ou seja, o preço de uma única boa Fragata (ex.:F110)
Pelo preço parecem ser excelentes navios, mas será que o preço seria igual para exportação?
Assumindo que sim, continuo a achar que seriam navios pouco poderosos e com pouca margem de evolução... no entanto, pelo preço, parece-me possível adquirir 4, e depois para substituir as BD ia-se buscar duas fragatas AAW.
Penso que ficarão um pouco + caras, acho que as opções do armamento que o pessoal aqui do fórum mais gosta, não estarão todas incluídas nesse valor de €291,85 milhões.
Esse valor será para um navio equipado como este do artigo que anexo.
The broadside is back
In the era of the ‘swarm attack’ either by small boats or UAVs, light-medium calibre gunnery is back in fashion. The Type 31 will mount at least 3 modern gun systems which are well suited to dealing with multiple small targets.
The heaviest weapon will be a Bofors medium-calibre 57mm Mk 110 Mod 0 gun which is already in service with the US and several other navies. It can deliver up to 4 rounds per second and has a range of about 17km. The whole system, including 1,000 rounds weighs around 14 tonnes. This is a very different weapon to the much heavier 114mm (4.5”) Mk 8 that delivers a single shell every 2 seconds and has equipped the majority of RN frigates since the 1970s.
The Mk 110 is not optimised for supporting troops ashore but for multiple and unpredictable targets. Different ammunition types can be readily reselected, including Pre-fragmented, Programmable and Proximity-fused (3P) ammunition. It has a useful airburst mode to defend against boat swarms but could switch to defend against aircraft or missiles using proximity fuses or heavier targets using delayed action fuses. (The vast range of sophisticated modern ammunition types are a complex subject well beyond the scope of this article).
Its high rate of fire means the 57mm actually delivers a greater weight of explosive onto the target than the latest Oto Melara 76mm gun. The gun mount holds 120 rounds but can be replenished by a 3-man crew in the gun bay on the deck below.
The Type 31 will not be fitted with 20mm Phalanx CIWS but instead will mount two Bofors 40mm Mk 4 guns. These lightweight 2.3-tonne, non-deck penetrating mounts can deliver 5 rounds per second out to about 12.5km and are designed to respond rapidly at a wide range of elevations. By delivering heavier shells further away from the ship the Mk 4 is superior to Phalanx in some ways. They provide defence against air and missile attack but use the same sophisticated 3P type ammunition as the 57mm so can quickly change to engage small boat or UAV threats. 100 rounds are held in the gun ready to fire with the ability to shift between different types of ammunition.
Bofors is owned by BAE Systems so the Type 31 decision is not all bad news for the company, with an order for at least 15 gun systems and ammunition coming for manufacture in Scandinavia and the US.
Arrowhead hits the target
Both the Navy and contractor are clear that the £250M price fully covers the production cost and will deliver a complete warship. There are other costs in building new warships and early expectations were that Type 31 would be heavily reliant on government-furnished equipment (GFE) to keep within budget.
It is surprising how little of the primary systems are likely to be migrated from the Type 23 frigates but this is certainly desirable as it will reduce the need to decommission ships earlier so their equipment can be removed. It also reduces the potentially complex integration challenges of moving equipment between very different platforms.
Every item in service requires its own training and support pipeline so commonality is usually considered a priority. The RN will now have to support 3 new gun systems in service, each with its own ammunition. The Type 26 is being fitted with the very capable, but very expensive 127mm Mk 45 Mod 4 and the
Type 31 will introduce two new gun calibres to the fleet.
Assessing this frigate design overall, it seems to be well-armed for its intended role in low-medium intensity conflict. For maritime security operations, it is especially well equipped while being capable of stepping up to defend itself and other vessels from air and missile attack.
The 57mm and 40mm guns do have something of an overlapping capability but a heavier main gun would probably have been unaffordable. This ship will be able to throw up a wall of lethal shrapnel around itself quicker than you can say “Iranian gunboat”.
Type 31 could also make credible second-tier escorts for the carrier strike group.
Anti-submarine capability is pretty limited, probably on a par with a Type 45 destroyer, although this could perhaps be partially mitigated in future with off-board unmanned ASW systems carried in the boat bays. A big advantage of Arrowhead is the generous margin of space and weight to add additional weapons and sensors including interim or future anti-ship/land-attack missiles.
13 Type 26 frigates might be preferable but are not affordable. The Type 31 should deliver 5 frigates for little more than the cost of a single Type 26 while diversifying the industrial base. There is still much more detail to emerge but it is safe to say, although Arrowhead is far from perfect, the RN can be satisfied it is getting a credible platform, allaying early the fears that Type 31 would deliver a warmed-over corvette.
https://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/more-details-of-the-royal-navys-type-31-frigate-emerge/Abraços
