Recent publications from the local media Naval Defence , (which belongs to the reliable Ptisi magazine) point towards a shortlist for the candidates of the competition for the 5 billion dollars contract to modernise the Hellenic Navy.
This new development follows what Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced on June 5, stating some proposals had been shortlisted by the Hellenic Navy. We previously outlined his declaration here.
As a quick reminder, this contract aims to procure 4 new frigates, with two interim solutions and the modernisation of the in-service MEKO 200HN frigates. It follows the failure of the previous negotiations with Lockeed Martin and their Freedom class against Naval Group’s Belh@rra frigate, an export version of the French Navy’s FDI.
This time, the contract increased its scope to achieve even more and thus is open to more compagnies.
Competitors include the Dutch Damen with the Sigma 11515HN, the Italian Fincantieri likely with the FREMM, Lockheed Martin again with the HF2 (the Greek version of the MMSC / Freedom class), Babcock of the UK with the Arrowhead 140 (basic design of the Type 31 of the Royal Navy), Navantia from Spain with their F110 design, and Naval Group with the FDI-HN.
The shortlist ranked proposals in 3 categories. The first is made of the ones who were mature and well-rounded enough to pass. The second is for the proposals which still require a few adjustments to make the cut and finally, the last regroups the ones that are out of the competitions for various factors.
Thus, the list announced is as follows :
1st category :
-SIGMA 11515 HN (Damen)
-FDI-HN (Naval Group)
-FREMM (Fincantieri)
2nd category :
-HF2 (Lockheed Martin)
-Arrowhead 140 (Babcock)
-MEKO A200 (Blohm + Voss)
3rd category :Â
-F110 (Navantia)
-MEKO A300 (Blohm + Voss)
-Gibbs & Cox proposal
For the three main proposals included in the first category, the Sigma 11515HN, the FDI-HN and the FREMM, a more detailed analysis will be proposed in a follow-up article.
The proposals in the second category are all very capable but will require some adjustments to truly be on par with those found in the first category. All of these proposals are modular designs, capable of integrating a variety of sensors and equipment to more adequately fit the requirements of the Hellenic Navy. This was most notably seen with Lockheed Martin who extensively re-adapted their Freedom class design multiple times to reach what is now the HF2.
The biggest surprise for the third category, was by far the exclusion of the Navantia proposal with their F110 frigate. While probably one of the most potent and most modern ship on the list, it was eventually rejected as it lacked maturity and stressed the budget imposed on the navy.
This shortlist is thus another step towards the final decision of the Hellenic Navy for this competition. For now we can only wait and see what proposal will be the one to be selected for this incredibly competitive contract.
According to information obtain by Naval News from various industry sources with direct knowledge of the matter, the winning bidder is now unlikely to be announced until the end of the Summer. For the record, the choice of the Hellenic MoD was originally set to be announced ahead of the DEFEA show, in June.
