Damen Naval has selected Kongsberg Maritime Sweden to deliver controllable pitch propellers and shaft lines for the four Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) frigates for the Netherlands and Belgium. As part of this contract, Kongsberg will supply four shipsets of its controllable pitch propeller systems and associated equipment including blades, hubcaps, hubs, and shaft lines. This is the second collaboration between Damen Naval and Kongsberg Maritime in the past 18 months. It follows a similar contract signed by the companies in September 2022 for the German navy’s F126 frigates. The four ASW frigates will replace the current Karel Doorman-class multi-purpose frigates. They will be deployed for a wide variety of tasks, with anti-submarine warfare as their main purpose. The ships will have hybrid diesel-electric propulsion and will be designed to operate as quietly as possible.
Kongsberg Maritime’s Vice President – Naval Björn ten Eicken said: “Kongsberg Maritime is proud to have been selected as a partner for this significant Damen Naval frigate programme. The propulsion system for the new frigates has been optimised to match the customers’ strict mission requirements, particularly for noise signature, which is a crucial factor in anti-submarine warfare operations.”
“It is great news to have Kongsberg Maritime involved in the ASW- frigate project as well. We have a long-standing relationship with the company, and it is a good example of the excellent co-operation that exists between the Dutch and Swedish naval shipbuilding industries,” says Damen Naval Director Corporate Strategy and Innovation Richard Keulen.
The Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigate (ASWF) is a project of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN, Dutch: Koninklijke Marine) and Belgian Navy to replace the existing Multipurpose- or M-frigates. The project shows similarities to the British Global Combat Ship (also formerly named FSC program) but development is fully separate. The ASW-frigate project is being carried out in close cooperation with the Dutch Ministry of Defence, with some of the work to be carried out by the MoD itself. In March 2023, the Dutch Ministry of Defense announced that it expected to deploy the first frigate in 2029, with Belgium deploying their first in 2030. The other two remaining frigates would be deployed in the following years. The hulls will be built in Romania and then come to Vlissingen for further completion. Damen Naval is expected to deliver the first ship in 2028.
