On August 25, 2023, the head office of the Indonesian State Shipbuilding Association RT PAL in Surabaya hosted the official laying ceremony for the Indonesian Navy of the head of two ordered frigates of the Arrowhead 140 (AN140) project under license from the British Babcock International group. The ship under the symbol KE-1 (construction number W000304) has no name yet, and the type itself is conventionally designated as Merah Putih ("red and white" - according to the colors of the Indonesian national flag). The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the lead frigate took place at RT PAL back on December 9, 2022.
The official image of the frigates of the Arrowhead 140 project (AN140) of the Merah Putih type under license from the British Babcock International group being built at the head enterprise of the Indonesian State Shipbuilding Association RT PAL for the Indonesian Navy. Image from the ceremony of the first steel cutting of the lead ship 09.12.2022 (c) PT PAL via www.navalnews.com
The contract for the construction of two frigates under the Arrowhead 140 project was issued by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense to RT PAL on April 30, 2020 and it entered into force on March 24, 2021. On September 16, 2021, the Ministry of Defense of Indonesia and RT PAL signed a direct contract and license agreement with the British group Babcock International to obtain a license to build two frigates for the Indonesian navy and appropriate assistance.
The contract allows the PT PAL association to make extensive modifications of the Arrowhead 140 project in accordance with the requirements of the Indonesian Navy and provides for the transfer of project documentation and technologies. The ships will be built at the enterprise of the RT PAL association in Surabaya with the assistance of the Babcock Group, with planned delivery dates, respectively, 57 and 69 months after the conclusion of the contract with Babcock - that is, in June 2026 and June 2027.
It is reported that Indonesian frigates of this type will be large ships with a total displacement of up to 8000 tons and a maximum length of 138.7 m and a width of 19.8 m, with a diesel main power plant consisting of four diesel engines with a capacity of 9100 kW each. The maximum speed will be 28 knots, and the cruising range will be up to 9,000 miles at 18 knots. The main armament of the ships, according to RT PAL, will consist of 32 vertical launchers of long-range anti-aircraft guided missiles, 24 vertical launchers of medium-range anti-aircraft guided missiles and 16 vertical launchers of anti-ship and/or cruise missiles. Presumably, it is planned to use Aster 15/30 anti-aircraft missiles and Russian-Indian supersonic anti-ship missiles BrahMos. The artillery armament will consist of two 76-mm Leonardo Super Rapid universal artillery units mounted high in the bow of the ship, as well as, presumably, a Turkish 35-mm anti-aircraft artillery complex. A special feature of the ship is the availability of rooms for accommodating up to 75 people of marines or special forces, with the ability to ensure their landing from fast-launching high-speed semi-rigid motor boats,
Recall that the Arrowhead 140 project was developed under the auspices of Babcock on the basis of the project of the famous Danish frigates of the Iver Huitfeldt type created earlier jointly by the British design and industrial group VMT and the Danish company Odense Maritime Technology (OMT). In September 2019, the Arrowhead 140 project, presented by a consortium led by Babcock, won the tender of the British Navy for the construction of five promising Type 31 frigates (Inspiration type) for the Royal Navy. The Type 31 lead ship for the British Navy Venturer was started construction at the Babcock Rosyth shipyard in Rosyth on September 23, 2021, with a planned delivery date of all five ships by 2030. Also, the Arrowhead 140 project was chosen by Poland for the construction of three frigates under the Miecznik program, the lead Polish frigate of this type, Wicher, was started by construction at the Polish shipyard PGZ Stocznia Wojenna in Gdynia on August 16, 2023.
Earlier, the Indonesian Navy had been negotiating for several years about the possibility of building frigates of the Danish project of the Iver Huitfeldt type, but in the end chose its development. It should be noted that the contract for the licensed construction of two frigates of the Arrowhead 140 project is parallel to the contract concluded by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense in June 2021 with the Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri for the construction of six frigates of the FREMM project for the Indonesian Navy and the supply to Indonesia with the repair and modernization of two frigates of the type withdrawn from the Italian Navy Maestrale. According to Italian sources, the first three FREMM frigates are to be built for Indonesia at the Fincantieri shipyards in Italy, and the other three are to be built with Italian assistance at the RT PAL enterprise in Surabaya. However, to date, the Italian contract has not entered into force.
According to the long-term plans of the Indonesian Navy, it is planned to have 16 frigates in their composition after 2024. Currently, the Indonesian Navy has only six frigates in service - two newly built PT PAL frigates of the Damen SIGMA 10514 project (of the Raden Eddy Martadinata type), commissioned in 2017-2018, and four old former Dutch frigates of the Van Speijk type (modified British Leander type) built in the 1960s, completely worn out and decommissioned fleet composition.
The official laying ceremony at the head enterprise of the Indonesian State Shipbuilding Association RT PAL for the Indonesian Navy of the head of the two ordered frigates of the Arrowhead 140 (AN140) project of the Merah Putih type under license from the British Babcock International group. Surabaya, 25.08.2023 (c) RT PAL
