Singaporean shipbuilders ST Engineering laid the keel for the first MRCV on 22 October, marking the “birth” of the first of a new class of ships for the Republic of Singapore Navy.
The milestone was marked with a ceremony at the shipyard where the MRCV is being built, with the Singaporean defense ministry’s permanent secretary for development, Melvyn Ong, the guest of honor. As part of the ceremony, Ong activated a crane lowering a section of the MRCV’s hull to be joined as part of the keel, and was joined by Singaporean Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Sean Wat in placing coins on the keel during the “coin ceremony”.
In his address, Ong acknowledged the efforts from the Defence Technology Community and the MRCV project teams on achieving this milestone:
“Seeing these keel blocks laid down, and how big the ship will eventually be, brings home the criticality of ST Engineering’s – most notably Marine, and Electronics – capabilities. Building a warship of this size and complexity, with world-first capabilities, is unprecedented in our shared history. I am sure that ST and our other partners in the defence industry will continue to provide the utmost value to this programme, and to the SAF’s capability development. The MRCV may be the first, but it will not be the last project of such complexity.”
Other officials and guests present at the ceremony included Mr. Tan Leong Peng, president of ST Engineering’s Marine division; Mr. Ng. Chad-Son, chief executive of the Defence Science and Technology Agency, Singapore’s military research and procurement agency; Republic of Singapore Navy midshipmen undergoing training, as well as representatives from the headquarters of the 8th Flotilla, the Republic of Singapore Navy unit that will operate the MRCVs.
ST Engineering was contracted in March 2023 to build six MRCVs for the Republic of Singapore Navy, with Sweden’s Saab Kockums and Denmark’s Odense Maritime Technology collaborating on the design in a fusion of their original proposals. The steel-cutting ceremony for the first-in class ship was held in March this year.
The MRCVs will replace the six Victory-class corvettes currently in service with the Republic of Singapore Navy, with a greater design emphasis on the MRCVs’ capabilities as “motherships” for autonomous and uncrewed systems over conventional weapon systems. While the Navy has not disclosed many details around specifications and equipment to be installed, Naval News learned during the 2023 IMDEX exhibition that the MRCVs are expected to displace 8,000 tons, and will have a crew complement of about 80 sailors.
Additionally, the following systems are set to be installed on the ships:
- Leonardo’s 76mm naval gun in the STRALES variant
- MBDA’s VL MICA NG and Aster B1 NT air defence missiles
- ST Engineering / IAI Blue Spear anti-ship missiles
- Thales’ SeaFire multifunction radar
- Safran’s PASEO XLR EO/IR system
- Safran’s NGDS decoy launching system
