African customer orders pair of OPV 45s

An unnamed African navy has ordered two OPVs from Israel Shipyards.

The OPV 45 vessels will be equipped with Israeli technology such as day/night observation sensors and stabilised weapon systems, the shipbuilder announced on 9 July.

Financial terms of the order and the delivery timescale were undisclosed, but Israel Shipyards did note that the deal includes ongoing support and maintenance, as well as training of technical and operational teams.

OPV-45 is designed to be a low-cost multi-role vessel for a wide range of missions including anti-piracy and EEZ monitoring, sitting between the Shaldag patrol vessel and Sa’ar corvettes in the Israel Shipyards portfolio.

‘Since the launch of the OPV 45 vessel at the IMDEX exhibition in Singapore last year, navies around the world have expressed great interest in this new vessel due to its cost-effectiveness and suitability for a wide range of missions,’ said Israel Shipyards CEO Eitan Zucker.

West Africa is a target market for the company. Shephard reported in April that Israel Shipyards launched an additional Shaldag Mk II for an existing West African government customer (probably Equatorial Guinea or Nigeria), with delivery due to take place in Q3 this year.

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