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Egypt – Future Fast
Missile Craft (FMC)/Fast Attack Craft (FAC)
Rewritten – May 2001 HOT NEWS: August
2001, November 01
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Halter Marine Ambassador Mk III FAC
Program Status: In progress. In January of
2001, the Egyptian Navy (EN) announced that it had selected Halter
Marine to provide four Ambassador Mk III fast attack craft
(FAC) for this program. On 01 July 2001, the Egyptian Armament
Authority approved the contract, and forwarded it to the Ministry of
Defense for final approval.
Operational Requirement: The EN has a
requirement for a force of modern FAC to conduct independent and
joint surveillance and strike operations against surface shipping
and armed surface adversaries in the littoral waters of the
Mediterranean and Red Seas. Such operations are intended to insure
the use of coastal sea lines of communication (SLOCs) by Egyptian
forces, and deny the same use by potential adversaries. Mission
contingencies require a FAC with anti-air warfare (AAW),
anti-surface warfare (ASuW), and electronic warfare (EW)
capabilities that will allow it to operate in a moderate to high
threat environment. Signature reduction, high speed, and
maneuverability are required for the FAC to conduct the anticipated
pursuit, intercept, and engagement scenarios.
Program Background: Since the mid-1990s, the
EN has been considering the procurement of a new FAC to begin
replacing many of the FAC currently in inventory, most of which are
past their effective service lives. Currently, the EN has twenty-one
FAC in its inventory:
· Four Osa I (Type 205)
class – The survivors of a group of 13 Osa I (Type 205)
FAC that were delivered to Egypt by the Soviet Navy in 1966-68.
· Six Ramadan class – Built by
Vosper Thornycroft in the UK and commissioned in 1981-82.
· Six October class – Built in
Alexandria in 1975-76 using a Komar class hull design. All
six units received refits at Vosper Thornycroft’s facilities in
the UK in 1979-81.
· Five Hegu class –
Chinese-built variants to the Komar class design. Acquired
from China and commissioned into Egyptian service on October 27,
1984.
It must be noted that the Egyptian Government
refers to its current FAC procurement as its Fast Missile Craft
(FMC) Program, apparently viewing that phrase as less politically
sensitive than Fast Attack Craft. No formal solicitations were
issued until July 1999; however, the EN received a number of
unsolicited bids prior to that date including:
· Bollinger Shipyard offering a variant
of the Cyclone class patrol boats. Reportedly their
proposal envisioned building the first two units of the class at
Bollinger’s facilities in Lockport, Louisiana, with follow-on
units built in Egypt. All hull, mechanical, and electrical
(HM&E) modules were to be designed and built by Bollinger.
Bollinger’s proposal was estimated at US$60M per hull, with
HM&E comprising 35% of the cost, and ship’s systems 65%.
· Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau
offering the Tarantul (Project 12421) FAC at US$52M per
unit, and were reportedly willing to go even lower. Since a Tarantul
acquisition would be almost entirely Russian in content, US FMA
funding would not have been available to support this acquisition.
· Oregon Iron Works reportedly offered
an updated version of the Peterson 511 (Saudi Arabian Al
Siddiq) class FAC.
In early 1999, the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command
(PMS-380) tasked Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division,
Detachment Norfolk, to determine the feasibility of meeting the
Egyptian FAC requirements using a modified Cyclone (PC-14)
design. The Egyptians reportedly had concerns with the use of the Cyclone
class hull as the basis for their new FAC. The Cyclone hull
design is based on the same Vosper Thornycroft design used by Egypt
for their Ramadan class, yet the Cyclone design is
heavier and lacks the weapons load-out found in the Ramadan.
From the Egyptian perspective, the Cyclone design, as it
exists in the US Navy inventory, does not have sufficient weight
margin to include a 76mm gun mount, Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM),
Harpoon, and Phalanx. The feasibility study conducted by the
Carderock ultimately concluded that most of Egypt’s FAC
requirements, as were specified in late 1998/early 1999, could be
met within the modified Cyclone design, but there were some
significant shortfalls. For example, to modify the Cyclone
design to meet Egypt’s needs Carderock recommended:
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Reducing the sea keeping requirements from 5
to 3 for full operations, and from 7 to 5 for restricted
operations.
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Reducing the range radius from 1000 nm to a
minimum acceptable range radius of 500 nm.
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Fitting two Super Barricade decoy launchers
instead of four Mk-36 Super RBOC launchers.
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Either eliminating the Close-in-weapons
System (CIWS) or reducing the number of Harpoons from eight to
four (two twin-pack launchers instead of two quad-packs).
Based on these shortfalls, the modified Cyclone
design, as proposed by PMS-380 was probably dropped from future
consideration. Additionally, the US Navy estimated that the cost of
four modified Cylcone class FACs would be around US$610.1M,
which probably exceeded the EN’s budget.
While Carderock was conducting the design
feasibility study, PMS-380 also went out to US Industry requesting
Pricing and Acceptance (P&A) for various US systems to go aboard
the FAC, including the Phalanx CIWS, the RAM system, and 76mm guns.
The P&A request was written as if these systems would be
Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) for the program. However, the
EN preferred that the selected shipbuilder would buy these systems
direct in order to reduce costs.
In March of 1999, at a meeting of the Joint
Egyptian/US Military cooperation Council, the Government of Egypt
asked the Naval Sea Systems Command to help manage the procurement
of their future FAC project. Subsequently, Egypt issued a contract
valued at approximately US$1M to NAVSEA (PMS-380 and PMS-325) for
advisory assistance on the FAC procurement.
On 22 July 1999, Egypt issued a Request for
Quotation (RfQ) for the FAC Program, with bids due no later than 15
October 1999. The RfQ was issued to US shipyards to procure four FAC
and associated support and services, using a Direct Commercial Sales
(DCS) Contract and US Foreign Military Funding (FMF). The following
seven US shipyards were probably included on the bidder list:
· Ingalls Shipbuilding (now Northrop
Grumman Ingalls Shipbuilding).
· Avondale Industries Inc. (now Litton
Ingalls Shipbuilding).
· Bollinger Shipyards Inc. teamed with
Vosper Thornycroft.
· Halter Marine, offering the Ambassador
Mk III design, and teamed with Lockheed Martin.
· Marinette Marine, probably using a
Singapore Technology variant of the Lurssen FPB-62 design.
· Oregon Iron Works, possibly still
offering an updated version of the Peterson 511 (Saudi
Arabian Al Siddiq) class FAC.
· Swiftships Inc., probably offering
its Defiance class design.
· Bender Shipbuilding and Repair
Company.
Subsequent to receiving the RfQ, Ingalls and
Avondale (then the principal components of Litton Ship Systems)
elected not to submit bids. In late 1999, the bidders list was
down-selected to five shipyards including Halter Marine, Bollinger
Shipyards Inc., Marinette Marine, Swiftships Inc., and Bender
Shipbuilding and Repair Company, Inc.. By 22 August 2000, the list
was further shortened to the final three shipyards (Halter Marine,
Marinette Marine, and Bollinger Shipyards Inc). On 25 August 2000,
the final three were involved in a face-to-face shootout exposing
all the details of the program including the best and final offer.
On 03 January 2001, Halter Marine announced that
it had been selected by the EN to provide four Ambassador Mk III
class FAC to satisfy its FMC program requirement. The program was
valued at US$406M (US$200M from FMA and US$206M financed over five
years), including construction, all weapons, integration, spare
parts and technical services. Halter Marine will probably have an
extremely difficult time delivering the total package for the
reported US$406M price tag. Industry sources suggest that the
program was under-bidded by as much as 33%, to assure a Halter
Marine contract. Privately, the EN also expressed concern over the
cheapness of the price quoted, and initially demanded a high-priced
performance bond to guarantee the delivery, and assurances that
there would be no cost overruns.
On 19 April 2001, Halter Marine’s parent
company, Friede Goldman Halter (FGH) announced that it had filed a
petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code,
which allows for reorganization of the company’s debt. Several
weeks earlier, FGH had attempted to refinance its debt without
success. Forward leaning statements by Halter Marine suggest that
the EN contract will not be affected by the filing of Chapter 11.
On 01 July 2001, the Egyptian Armament Authority
approved the contract, and forwarded it to the Ministry of Defense
for final approval. By the end of July 2001, Halter Marine will meet
with the Armament Authority to demonstrate its financial ability to
continue with this program. Due to its financial situation, Halter
Marine probably will not be able to acquire the required performance
bond. However, the EN may be proceeding without the bond, and
instead levying additional requirements on Halter Marine. Sources
indicate that the Egyptian Government will conduct audits on Halter
Marine every three months to ensure its financial ability to
continue with the program. Sources also indicate that the Defense
Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) approved the contract in its
current form, which probably includes amendments concerning the
Egyptian Government’s right to audit Halter Marine’s financial
records.
Program Acquisition Plan: On
01 July 2001, the Egyptian Armament Authority approved the contract
with Halter Marine, and forwarded it to the Ministry of Defense for
final approval. Approval will probably come before the end of 2001,
with construction commencing in 2002. The first unit is scheduled to
be delivered by 2005 followed by one unit per year. The
following acquisition plan, for a buy of four units valued at
US$101.5M each, is projected:
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Concept Start 1999
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Concept Select 2000
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Contract Design 2000
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Construction Contract RfP 2001
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Construction Contract Award 2001
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First of Class Commissions 2005
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Hull Two Commissions 2006
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Hull Three Commissions 2007
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Hull Four Commissions 2008
Design and Construction Considerations: When
the EN released its initial FAC solicitation in July 1999, general
characteristics included a vessel that would be fully operational in
conditions up to Sea State 4 and able to survive through Sea State
6. It would be of welded construction using materials consistent
with specified structural strength, reduced maintenance, and weight
requirements. Builders were to use superstructure materials that
enhance signature reduction, reduced maintenance, and weight.
Additionally, the FAC would be designed and
constructed to provide a service life of at least twenty years with
minimum maintenance and repair. This service life is predicated on
an operational profile that has the FAC on patrol for eight days
each month. The remainder of the time the FAC would be pier side in
a reduced availability status. The expected propulsion plan
operating hours per engine was 2400 hours per year. The ship’s
notional maintenance cycle includes a maintenance availability and
dry-docking every 24 months.
The EN would provide cryptographic,
identification friend or foe (IFF), and fueling at sea equipment as
Government Furnished Property (GFP). Wherever economically feasible,
the FAC design was to incorporate automation and ship equipment
performance monitoring technology to minimize crew requirements. The
EN’s specifications call for a crew of 36, which is seen as the
minimum needed to be able to operate the ship for up to eight hours
at General Quarters (Condition I) and for up to eight days of
sustained at-sea operations with weapons and sensors manned at
Wartime Cruise (Condition III).
Additional weapon and sensor system requirements
as identified in the solicitation:
· An integrated bridge system.
· External communications system.
· Tactical data links.
· A combined air/surface surveillance
radar system capable of 3D-target designation, and electronic
counter counter measures (ECCM) capable.
· Signaal’s (now Thales Nederland)
Scout navigation radar system.
· A fire control system capable of using
automatic acquisition and tracking, including passive track ability
of targets, with extensive ECCM capability.
· A lightweight shipboard Electro-Optical
system.
· Electronic Support Measures/Electronic
Countermeasures suite (ESM/ECM) with 360-degree coverage.
· Four decoy launchers for 360-degree
coverage.
· Eight Boeing Harpoon surface-to-surface
missiles (SSMs).
· Point defense missile system comprising
the Raytheon Mk 49 guided missile launching system for the Rolling
Airframe Missile (RAM)
· Raytheon Mk 15 Mod 21 (Block IB)
Phalanx close-in-weapons system (CIWS).
· United Defense LP Mk 75 Dual-purpose
76mm/62 super rapid-fire gun (upgraded and overhauled).
· Two M60 general-purpose removable
machine guns.
The combat management system (CMS) was to be of
multi-role capability with anti-air (AAW), anti-surface (ASuW),
electronic warfare (EW), and active and passive countermeasure
capabilities. Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance
Systems – Undersea Systems was chosen as the CMS system provider
and integrator by Halter Marine, and will provide a flexible
state-of-the-art design based on commercial-off-the-shelf
technology.
Ship Characteristics based on the Halter Marine Ambassador
Mk III design:
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Vessel Type |
Fast Attack Craft (FAC) |
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Country |
Egypt |
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Program |
Fast Missile Craft (FMC) |
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Total Number |
4 |
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Unit Cost (US$) |
101.5M (Est.) |
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Builder |
Halter Marine. |
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Displ. Tons |
550 tons |
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Length |
60.6m (199ft) |
|
Beam |
10m (32.8ft) Est.) |
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Draft |
2m (2.5ft) (Est.) |
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Machinery |
Diesels: Open. Probably three MTU diesels (30,000hp) (sold
and serviced by Detroit Diesel Corporation in the US); three
shafts; three propellers. |
|
Speed (Knots) |
41 |
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Range |
2000nm at 15 kts, with an at-sea endurance of eight days. |
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Complement |
36 (eight officers, ten chief petty officers, and 18
ratings). |
|
Weapons |
Guns: One United Defense Mk 75 76mm/62 Super Rapid gun; one
Raytheon Mk 15 Mod 21 Phalanx (Block 1B) Close-in Weapons
System (CIWS); two deck-mounted 7.62mm M60 machine guns. |
|
Missiles |
Surface-to-Surface Missiles (SSM): Eight Boeing RGM-84G
Block 1G Harpoon SSMs in two quad pack canister launchers.
Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs): One Raytheon Rolling
Airframe Missile (RAM) system consisting of the Mk49 Guided
Missile Launching System (GMLS) and a Mk44 MOD 2 Block 1
guided missile round pack (supporting 21 canister mounted
missiles). |
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CMS/Fire Control |
Lightweight Shipboard Electro-Optical System, IFF, data
links (Link ASN 150, LinkYE, Link 14, and Link 11). |
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Radar |
Navigation: Thales Nederland (formerly Signaal) Scout (I/J
band).
Air/surface surveillance: European Aerospace and Defence
Systems (EADS) TRS-3D radar built by Raytheon Systems.
Fire control: Open (I and K dual-band). |
|
Countermeasures |
Decoys: Four chaff/IR launchers (two to port and two to
starboard).
Electronic Support Measures/Electronic Countermeasures
(ESM/ECM): Open. |
Key Personnel:
- Vice Admiral Ahmed Saber Selim
- Commander, Naval Forces
- Ras El-Tin Naval Base
- Alexandria, Egypt
- Mr. Scott Thompson
Navy Programs International
- United Defense LP
- 4800 East River Road
- Minneapolis, Minnesota 55421
- United States
Tel: + 1 763 572 6671
- E-mail: scott_d_thompson@udlp.com
- MTU Union Friedrichshafen
- C/o Detroit Diesel Corporation
- 13400 Outer Drive West
- Detroit, Michigan 48239-4001
- United States
- Tel: + 1 313 592 7436
- Fax: + 1 313 592 3875
- Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems
(NE&SS) – Undersea Systems
Mr. Grant Corcoran
Manager, International Business Development
Lockheed Martin NE&SS – Undersea Systems
9500 Godwin Drive
Manassas, VA 20110-4157
Tel: + 1 703 367 3505
Fax: +1 703 367 5239
E-mail: grant.corcoran@lmco.com
Website: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/manassas
- Boeing Information, Space and Defense Systems
- Miss Karen A. Bedell
- Director of International Programs Navy Missile Systems
- Boeing Information, Space and Defense Systems
- M/C S598-2041
- St. Louis, Missouri 63166
- Tel: + 1 636 947 2706
- Fax : + 1 636 925 5775
- E-mail: Karen.a.Bedell@boeing.com
- Website: http://www.boeing.com
- Mr. Leen J. Klaver
- Director of Marketing
- Thales Nederland B.V.
- Post Office Box 42
- NE-7550 GD Hengelo
- The Netherlands
- Tel: + 31 74 248 2566
- Fax: + 31 74 248 4041
- E-Mail: Klaver@thalesgroup.com
- Website: http://www.signaal.nl/
- Mr. Dennis J. Carrol
- Director Phalanx Systems
- Raytheon Electronic Systems
- 1151 East Hermans Road
- Bldg 849 MS B14
- Tuscon, Arizona 85734-1337
- Tel: + 1 520 794 3167
- Fax: + 1 520 794 2542
- Mr. Robert Moskowitz
- Director RAM International Programs
- Raytheon Electronic Systems
- 1151 East Hermans Road
- Bldg 840 MS 1
- Tuscon, Arizona 85734-1337
- Tel: + 1 520 794 0487
- Fax: + 1 520 794 8432
- 13085 Seaway Road
- Gulfport, Mississippi 39503
- Tel: + 1 228 896 0029
- E-mail: hmsales@fgh.com
- Website: http://www.fgh.com
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