Fearless-class Patrol Vessel

The Fearless-class patrol vessels were built by Singapore Technologies (ST) Marine for the Republic of Singapore Navy in the 1990s. Together, the ships formed the 182 and 189 Squadron.

The Fearless-class patrol vessels were ordered as replacements for the earlier Swift-class coastal patrol crafts after they had been transferred to the Police Coast Guard. The contract was awarded to ST Marine on February 27^th 1993. The first six vessels are fitted for anti-submarine warfare, while the remainder are configured as patrol vessels.

In 1996, the Defence Science Technology Agency project team leading the patrol vessel project was awarded the Defence Technology Prize.

On January 3^rd 2003, RSS Courageous was badly damaged in a collision with a container ship in the Singapore Strait. The Courageous was repaired soon afterwards and returned to service later that year.

In January 2005, 189 Squadron was transferred to the Coastal Command from the Fleet, and the twelve ships now form the 182 and 189 Squadron.

In April 2012, ST Marine was awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defence of the Sultanate of Oman to build four 75-metre PVs based on the Fearless-class. The vessels are expected to be delivered as the Al-Ofouq-class between 2015 and 2016.

On January 30^th 2013, MINDEF awarded ST Engineering a contract for the design and build of eight new vessels to replace the Fearless-class patrol vessels. ST Engineering announced that the group’s marine arm, ST Marine will build the eight vessels at its Singapore Benoi Yard. While the group’s electronics arm, ST Electronics, will supply the core combat systems and combat system integration solutions. ST Marine will carry out the platform system integration as the lead system integrator. The first vessel is expected to be delivered in 2016 and all sixteen vessels will be fully operational by 2020.

Specifications

• Type: Patrol Vessel
• Service Period: 1996-Present
• Characteristics:
  • Length: 180 feet 5 inches (55 meters)
  • Beam: 28 feet 3 inches (8.61 meters)
  • Draught: 8 feet 10 inches (2.69 meters)
  • Displacement: 550 tons
• Crew: 30
• Propulsion: 2 x MTU 12 V 595 TE 90 diesel engines coupled to ZF gear boxes driving 2 x Kamewa Waterjets
• Range: 1,000 nautical miles (1,852 kilometers) at 15 knots (27.78 km/h)
• Speed: 20 knots (37.04 km/h)
• Sensor Suite:
  • IAI/ELTA EL/M-2228(X) Air/Surface Search Radar
  • Kelvin Hughes Type 1007 Navigation Radar
  • Thales Underwater Systems TSM 2362 Gudgeon hull-mounted medium frequency active sonar
  • Elbit MSIS optronic director
• Countermeasures:
  • Elisra NS 9010C intercept
  • 2 x GEC Marine Shield III 102 mm sextuple fixed chaff launchers
• Armament:
  • 1 x OTO-Melara 76mm/L62 Super Rapid naval gun
  • 1 x Simbad twin arm missile launchers (fires Mistral SAMs
  • Eurotorp A244-S Mod 3 torpedoes
  • 4 x CIS 50MG 12.7 mm (0.50 in) HMG

Unit Run

• RSS Fearless (P94)
• RSS Brave (P95)
• RSS Courageous (P96)
• RSS Gallant (P97)
• RSS Daring (P98)
• RSS Dauntless (P99)
• RSS Resilience (P100)
• RSS Unity (P101)
• RSS Sovereignty (P102)
• RSS Justice (P103)
• RSS Freedom (P104)
• RSS Independence (P105)