Volkadav, If Austal becomes the major build partner in wa. Do you think we may see the return of the ocv program as a tier 2? Or atleast an updated version. (20 were to be built at that time to cover many classes). I think it’s called the Austal MRV 80 now but they also had a 90m variant too with more range.
People may not like it given how wel the LCS program went but it was versatile, was relatively inexpensive when compared to other offerings and had a very low crew requirement of 40-60 with accomodation for around 80. If austal does expands to 1200 people, they could probably produce 2 a year like the Capes in the current shed.
Ceafar, 16 VLS, 2x quad SSM, 1 helicopter, 1 drone, main gun, remote weapons, mass decoys, mission bay underneath flight deck carrying a few vehicles or small containers, 2 rhibs, CIWS or ram etc etc. Had 2 range listings of 4,500nm at 12 knts or 6,000nm at 12knts, max speed 26-28knts or with different propulsion up to 32+ knts. 90m version more range perhaps?
About this delivery The Austal Multi-Role Vessel can provide offshore and littoral war fighting roles, border protection tasks, long range counter-terrorism and counter piracy operations, support to special forces and missions in support of security and stability in the immediate neighbourhood...
www.austal.com
Pic from another site, taken from an austal pdf, 80m corvette combatant.