Page 45: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2016)

(Photo: Dave McMillan, Vard Marine)

Proven Design: A Vard 7 090 with the Irish Naval Service. Dave McMillan, CEO, Vard Marine discretion,” he adds. Yet, the basis of the winning de- nft, has been quoted as saying. In addition to ? ghting

Nod to NATO sign was the Vard 7 090 OPV, a 296 ft vessel capable “criminal networks off Central America” the Vard 7

If Canadian and Norwegian design expertise was of 23-knots and already in service with the Irish Naval 110’s will also patrol the “increasingly accessible Arc- given the nod, then so too was Vard’s parent company

Service. Three are in service and a fourth is under con- tic”, a theatre which might require a more closed super-

Fincantieri. struction. structure, more akin to the Vard 7 100. U.S. “economic

Owned by the Italian state via Fintecna, Fincantieri

The Vard 7 090 does look a little more like the Vard interests” will also be enforced with the new boat, a nod doubled after its acquisition of Vard to become the to all that goes on out in the nation’s 200-nautical-mile fourth largest shipbuilder in the world and the largest 7 100, a 98-meter arctic OPV vessel design with se- rious (meter-thick ice) ice-breaking ability that makes economic zone.

in the Med. As we wrote these words, Financtieri’s 17 knots in open water. Zukunft’s budget suggests at “The OPC will bridge the capabilities” of the 418-

Trieste-based minds were making a friendly offer for least one cutter, or an immediate separate order, will ft national security cutters and 154-foot fast response the 44 percent of Vard they don’t own. It’s worth not- be arctic capable, and Vard and Canadian engineering cutters by replacing the 270-foot and 210-foot medium ing that in January 2009, Fincantieri bought Manitowoc consultancy BMT Fleet are already understood to be endurance cutters, now up to 50 years old,” the Service Marine Group and its two yards in Wisconsin, includ- working on project documents for a Canadian “arctic says. A Coast Guard management unit called OPC PRO ing the Marinette Marine that built the ? rst Freedom will oversee construction of the cutter from an on-site Class littoral combat ship. So, Eastern, it seems, has a offshore patrol ship” of Vard 7 100 type.

Should the Coast Guard ask for specs or ideas that aid facility Eastern is expected to build during winter 2016- rival and a friend in Fincantieri, another maker of mid- in criminal interdiction work, Vard parent Fincantieri’s 2017. All augers well for Eastern potentially replacing sized vessels for the U.S. Navy. So, who knows what own 180 ft. Diciotti and Dattilo-classes are regulars of more of the 25 mid-water or “medium endurance” cut- may be next from U.S. military-industrial strategists ters with 25 Vard 7 110’s — and perhaps a Vard 7 100. keen to share ? nancial resources with capable NATO migrant and criminal intercept work in the Mediterra- nean Sea. The USCG, however, wanted a helideck and The Canadian Navy is understood to be pursuing these allies while also creating jobs at home. For now, all place for three rubber in? atables. The Italian-built ves- vessels for its own cold-water patrols.

eyes will be on those remaining OPVs.

sels only seem to accomodate one dingy and no heli- copter. To compare, Zukunft’s cutters will be 360 ft. long; 54 ft. at the beam; have a 17-ft. draft: a range of 10,000 nautical miles at 14 knots; 60 days of endur- ance; tw 16-volt marine diesel engines; two ? ve-blade and controllable pitch propellers that’ll achieve a top speed of more than 22 knots. There’s plenty of room for a helicopter and three RIBs.

Supply Chain

Vard didn’t say what Vard equipment, if any, will be aboard the OPC, but the Coast Guard promises a ro- bust capability. A “sophisticated combat system” and a

C4ISR communication suite will be onboard, and this will allow the OPV to be brought into action together with other Coast Guard vessels or as part of a larger combat ship group. “The offshore patrol cutter acquisition is the Coast

Guard’s highest investment priority,” Admiral Zuku- www.marinelink.com 45

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