The first of South Africa’s four new patrol corvettes — the SAS Amatola — docks in Simon’s Town on Tuesday — the first sign of the country’s multi-billion rand investment in the arms procurement deal to re-equip the South African Navy and the South African Air Force.
Simon’s Town naval base Commander Jaco Theunissen said the SAS Amatola will arrive at 14h00 South African time on Tuesday.
The vessel was sailed from Wilenshaven, near Hamburg in Germany, by 60 South African Navy crew members in an 18-day trip under the command of Captain Guy Jamieson.
Members of the media will be given an opportunity on Wednesday to view the corvette from a strike craft as she executes “high speed manoeuvres at sea.”
Theunissen noted that the navy would be working to fit the vessel with weapons systems and electronic warfare equipment during the next 18 months to two years. She would be berthed at the Simon’s Town dockyard.
At the moment the vessel consists only of “a hull of the ship, a propulsion system and navigation equipment.” Theunissen described this as “a warship without any teeth”.
The four corvettes were priced at R5,5-billion in 1999 but this price is subject to exchange control fluctuations, Theunissen noted.
The next corvette to arrive will be the SAS Isandlwana — named after the Anglo-Zulu war battle — which is expected in February, while the SAS Spioenkop — named after the battle of the Anglo Boer War — is expected later in 2004. The last vessel, which has not yet been named, will also arrive sometime in 2004.
Two of the corvettes, including the SAS Amatola, were built by the German Frigate Consortium, a private company, while the other two will come from Thyssen, also a German company.
Jane’s Defence Weekly southern African correspondent Helmoed Romer-Heitman said the contract price for the vessels was R5,9-billion rand, or about 680 million euros, while the cost of the fittings in South Africa was about R1,56-billion. The rough total cost for the four corvettes would be about seven
billion rand, he estimated.
He said the vessel would be fitted with a French built radar system, two trackers, a 76mm gun taken out of South Africa’s strike craft and being refurbished by Reutech of Stellenbosch.
The corvettes would be fitted with a surface-to-air missile called the Umkhonto, developed by Kentron, a twin 35mm cannon developed by LIW, which is part of State arms manufacturer Denel, two 20mm cannons and a basic sonar system which is partly French and partly South African.
The SAS Amatola will also be fitted with a communications suite by Grintek Communications Systems and a combat management system by African Defence Systems. – I-Net Bridge