NFR-90

Last updated

NFR-90 (NATO Frigate Replacement for 90s) was a multi-national programme designed to produce a common frigate for several NATO nations. However, the varying requirements of the different countries led to the project being abandoned in the early 1990s. [1] [2]

Contents

Project

The project sought to achieve economies of scale in the production of the next generation warship. Feasibility studies began in 1985 and reported that with a modularity in design, collaboration should be possible. [2]

Arguments erupted in the design definition stage over such issues as the choice of a primary anti-ship weapon. France pushed its Exocet missile while the majority of the nations preferred the Boeing AGM-84 Harpoon. [2] The United Kingdom in particular was uneasy about the absence of a close-in weapon system due to its experiences of being on the receiving end of Exocets during the Falklands War. [2]

The collapse of the project was guaranteed by the withdrawal of the two largest participants, the US and UK. The US Navy was not happy with the final single mission design - the multi-mission Arleigh Burke-class destroyers demonstrate what the US had in mind. [2] The UK considered withdrawing from the project in 1988, but committed to it to guarantee work for its shipyards and defence equipment suppliers. However, the UK finally withdrew in 1989 fearing that the requirement for a replacement for its Type 42 destroyers would not be met by the new frigate. [2]

Successors

France, Italy and the UK set up the Horizon CNGF project in 1992. This was a further attempt at collaboration that was only moderately more successful, with the UK eventually withdrawing and starting its own national project, the Type 45 destroyer. [2] France and Italy are continuing with the Horizon project, although far fewer ships will be built than initially intended. [2] Spain, Germany and the Netherlands agreed to develop a trilateral basic design, which should be built and finally developed by each nation by itself. Within the framework of this so-called Trilateral Frigate Cooperation Germany built the Sachsen-class frigate (F124), Spain the Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate (F100) and the Netherlands the De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate.

Australia's AWD Hobart-class destroyer would be evolved from the Spanish F100 class. [3]

Participating nations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrier battle group</span> Type of naval fleet with an aircraft carrier

A carrier battle group (CVBG) is a naval fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier capital ship and its large number of escorts, together defining the group. The CV in CVBG is the United States Navy hull classification code for an aircraft carrier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Destroyer</span> Type of warship intended to escort other larger ships

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against powerful short-range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frigate</span> Type of warship

A frigate is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Netherlands Navy</span> Navy of the Netherlands

The Royal Netherlands Navy is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Type 42 destroyer British guided missile destroyer class

The Type 42 or Sheffield class, was a class of fourteen guided-missile destroyers that served in the Royal Navy. A further two ships of this class were built for and served with the Argentine Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exocet</span> French anti-ship missile

The Exocet is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellenic Navy</span> Maritime warfare branch of Greeces military

The Hellenic Navy is the naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence. During the periods of monarchy it was known as the Royal Hellenic Navy.

Type 22 frigate Class of frigates built for Royal navy

The Type 22 frigate also known as the Broadsword class was a class of frigates built for the British Royal Navy. Fourteen were built in total, with production divided into three batches.

Type 45 destroyer 2009 Royal Navy destroyer class

The Type 45 destroyer, also known as the D or Daring class, is a class of six guided-missile destroyers built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy in the early 21st century. The class is primarily designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare and is built around the PAAMS air-defence system using the SAMPSON Active electronically scanned array (AESA) and the S1850M long-range radars. The first three destroyers were assembled by BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions from partially prefabricated "blocks" built at different shipyards; the remaining three were built by BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships. The first ship in the Daring class, HMS Daring, was launched on 1 February 2006 and commissioned on 23 July 2009.

Type 21 frigate Class of general purpose frigates built for Royal Navy

The Type 21 frigate, or Amazon-class frigate, was a British Royal Navy general-purpose escort that was designed in the late 1960s, built in the 1970s and served throughout the 1980s into the 1990s.

<i>Leander</i>-class frigate Class of frigate in the Royal Navy

The Leander-class, or Type 12I (Improved) frigates, comprising twenty-six vessels, was among the most numerous and long-lived classes of frigate in the Royal Navy's modern history. The class was built in three batches between 1959 and 1973. It had an unusually high public profile, due to the popular BBC television drama series Warship. The Leander silhouette became synonymous with the Royal Navy through the 1960s until the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Destroyer escort</span> US Navy warship classification

Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a 20-knot warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PAAMS</span> Joint programme for an integrated anti-air warfare system

The Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) is a joint programme developed by France, Italy, and the United Kingdom for an integrated anti-aircraft warfare system. The prime contractor is EUROPAAMS, a joint venture between Eurosam (66%) and UKAMS (33%). In the United Kingdom, PAAMS has been given the designation Sea Viper.

Horizon-class frigate Class of air-defence destroyers in service with the French and Italian navies.

The Horizon class (French: Classe Horizon; Italian: Classe Orizzonte) is a class of air-defence destroyers in service with the French and Italian navies. They are designated as destroyers by the Italians and using NATO classification but are referred to as "frigates" by the French. The programme started as the Common New Generation Frigate (CNGF), a three-nation collaboration between France, the United Kingdom, and Italy to develop a new generation of air-defence warships. Differing national requirements, workshare disagreements and delays led to the UK withdrawing from the project in 1999 to develop the Type 45 destroyer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European multilateral defence procurement</span> How the continent collectively obtains its weapons

European multilateral defence procurement refers to the collective armaments purchasing policies of European nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval tactics</span> Methods of engaging and defeating an enemy ship or fleet during naval warfare

Naval tactics and doctrine is the collective name for methods of engaging and defeating an enemy ship or fleet in battle at sea during naval warfare, the naval equivalent of military tactics on land.

<i>De Zeven Provinciën</i>-class frigate Dutch air-defence and command frigates

The four De Zeven Provinciën-class frigates are air-defence and command frigates in service with the Royal Netherlands Navy. This class of ships is also known as "LCF". The ships are similar to the German Sachsen-class frigates in role and mission.

<i>Tariq</i>-class destroyer Class of guided-missile warships that were transferred by the Royal Navy to Pakistan

The Tariq-class destroyers are a class of guided missile destroyers of the Pakistan Navy. They were acquired from the British Royal Navy in 1993–94. The Tariqs were formerly commissioned in the Royal Navy's Surface Fleet as Type 21 (Amazon-class) frigates, a general purpose frigate in the Royal Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otomat</span> Anti-ship missile and land-attack missile

The Otomat is an anti-ship and coastal defence missile developed by the Italian company Oto Melara jointly with Matra and now made by MBDA. The name comes, for the first versions, from the name of the two builders and, for the later versions, Teseo, from the Italian word for Theseus. The MILAS variant is an anti-submarine missile. In its latest version Mk/2E purchased by the Italian Navy is a medium range anti-ship missile and a ground attack missile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Atalanta</span> European anti-pirate military operation

Operation Atalanta, formally European Union Naval ForceSomalia, is a current counter-piracy military operation at sea off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean, that is the first naval operation conducted by the European Union (EU). The operational headquarters is currently located at the Spanish Operation Headquarters (ESOHQ) at Naval Station Rota in Spain, having moved from London as a result of the British withdrawal from the EU.

References

  1. ↑ «Historia de la F-100» (Spanish)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 «El último vástago del programa NFR-90» Revista Ejércitos Nº 5, Pág. 30-35 (Spanish)
  3. ↑ Brown, Nick (28 June 2007). "Spanish designs are Australia's choice for warship programmes". International Defence Review.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.