25.12.2009
Swedish shipbuilding company Kockums delivered two Visby-class stealth corvettes to national Navy, reports Defence Talk. The ships were named Helsingborg and Harnosand. According to military officials, the corvettes are ready in full to conduct naval operations like minesweeping, antisubmarine defense, antisurface warfare and reconnaissance.
Displacement of
Visby-class corvettes is 650 tonnes; length is 72.6 meters; beam is 10.4 meters. The ship with operational range of 2,300 miles is capable to accelerate up to 35 knots.
Visby corvettes are armed with one multipurpose 57-mm gun, eight
RBS-15 Mk2 missiles and depth charge launchers. The ship has a heliport for one helicopter.
The hull of
Visby is almost entirely made of laminate plastic; that significantly decreased their radiomagnetic and hydroacoustic signature. Application of laminate plastic makes
Visby-class ships low-observable for radars and IR cameras. The corvettes themselves are equipped with variety of subwater and surface sensors.
It was previously reported that Swedish stealth technology may be taken as a basis in production of Indian ASW corvettes. By the end of 2009 Indian Navy intends to issue a tender for construction of new corvettes. Foreign companies are expected to compete in the tender. According to its conditions, winning company would present technology of composite ship hull to Indian shipbuilding company
GRSE.
Source: , photo: Visby-class corvette (kockums.se)
