On September 27, 2022, in Cartagena (Colombia), the Colombian state shipbuilding company COTECMAR signed a contract with the international (headquartered in the Netherlands) shipbuilding group Damen Shipyards Group for the joint design and further construction of five frigates for the Colombian Navy under the Plataforma Estrategia de Superficie (PES) program based on the Damen SIGMA 10514 project. Earlier on September 22, the Ministry of Defense of Colombia announced the selection of the Damen SIGMA 10514 project based on the results of an international tender under the PES program for new frigates for the Colombian navy.
Preliminary design image of the frigate variant for the Colombian Navy under the Plataforma Estrategia de Superficie (PES) program based on the Damen SIGMA 10514 (c) COTECMAR project and the Colombian NavyFive new frigates under the PES program are to replace the current core of the Colombian fleet consisting of four Almirante Padilla-type frigates (FS 1500 project) of West German construction in the first half of the 1980s (modernized in the 2010s under the Orion program) and two former South Korean corvettes built in the 1980s, received in recent years.
It is noteworthy that the signing ceremony of the contract between COTECMAR and Damen took place in Cartagena in the presence of the command of the Colombian Navy on board the frigate FM 51 Almirante Padilla.Previously, two frigates for the Indonesian Navy and one frigate for the Mexican Navy were built under the Damen SIGMA 10514 project with the participation of the group.
In both cases, the construction was carried out at the national state shipyards of these countries with the construction of a part of the hull sections at the Damen enterprise in Vlissingen in the Netherlands. A similar scheme is planned to be applied in the construction of five ships for the Colombian Navy - with licensed construction at the COTECMAR enterprise in Cartagena, Colombia, with the supply of part of the Damen hull sections. The cost of building one ship under the PES program is estimated at $ 400 million (apparently, excluding missile ammunition). The commissioning of all five frigates, according to COTECMAR, is now very optimistically planned from 2026 to 2030. [...]
It is reported that the proposed jointly COTECMAR and Damen variant of the SIGMA 10514 frigate project for the Colombian Navy should have a slightly increased total displacement (2900 tons compared to 2800 tons for a Mexican frigate of this type), while maintaining the basic dimensions of the basic project - length 105.5 m and width 14.02 m. The power plant is a two-shaft diesel-electric, full speed from 27 to 30 knots, the cruising range of the economic course may be increased from 5000 to 7000 miles (apparently, this will be the main part of the displacement growth), autonomy will be 30 days.
The Colombian frigate should be armed with eight South Korean SSM-700K Haeseong I anti-ship missiles (Colombia previously became the first foreign customer of these missiles, re-equipping Almirante Padilla-type frigates with them during modernization), medium-range air defense systems with 16 vertical launchers (according to unofficial reports, the American Raytheon ESSM air defense system was chosen, similar to the Mexican frigate), 76-mm artillery installation Leonardo Super Rapid with a complex of guided weapons Strales (they were also equipped with Almirante Padilla frigates during the modernization), 35-mm Rheinmetall Millenium anti-aircraft artillery complex, 324-mm torpedo tubes, and a helicopter in the hangar. It can be assumed that part of the armament will be rearranged to new ships from Almirante Padilla frigates that they replace and are subject to decommissioning.The new frigates of the Colombian Navy should carry enhanced anti-submarine sonar equipment - both submerged and towed GAS.
Electronic weapons will be mainly represented by systems manufactured by the Thales Group, including the NS100 general detection radar and the Stir 1.2 fire control radar.
The Colombian Navy began the PES program to select a promising frigate back in 2015, and initially very ambitious projects of large ships with a displacement of 3,000 to 5,000 tons with plans to build up to eight units were considered. As a result, however, the tender was held on more realistic grounds, and in its final stage, projects of ships with a displacement of up to 3,000 tons, presented, in addition to Damen, also by the French association Naval Group, the Spanish Navantia, the South Korean corporation Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and the Turkish company STM, took part.
The choice of the Damen project may have been partly determined by the already successful experience of COTECMAR's cooperation with this group. In particular, an 83-meter hydrographic vessel VO 151 Simón Bolívar, launched on July 23, 2022, is currently being built at COTECMAR in Cartagena for the Colombian Navy under a 2019 contract under the Damen OSRV 8316 project.
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The signing ceremony on board the frigate of the Colombian Navy FM 51 Almirante Padilla by the Colombian state shipbuilding company COTECMAR of a contract with the international shipbuilding group Damen Shipyards Group for the joint design and further construction of five frigates for the Colombian Navy under the Plataforma Estrategia de Superficie (PES) program based on the Damen SIGMA 10514 project. Cartagena (Colombia), 27.09.2022 (c) COTECMARVideo:
