Australia: NVL divests itself of the "Arafura"

It is called "Project Sea 1180" and comprises six (optionally twelve) OPVs of 80 metres in length and 1,700 tonnes displacement - ordered from Naval Vessels Lürssen (NVL). The Arafura class was developed from the Darussalam OPV built for Brunei. Two boats were to be built at Osborne in Adelaide on the south-east coast and the other four at Civmec in Henderson/Perth in the west with technology transfer from Lürssen. Civmec was chosen as the Australian subcontractor, even though
Australia would have preferred to see Austal in the job. After the project was severely delayed and classified as a "project of concern" at the end of 2023, NVL sold its share to Civmec at the end of 2024 and withdrew.

Arafura, Photo: MinDef Australia

When the contract was signed in early 2018, it looked like a simple construction project, but no sooner had construction begun than the Royal Australian Navy seemed to have lost faith in these boats due to a strategic realignment. The four sea target guns were cancelled, as was the 57mm cannon, and the 40mm cannon intended as a replacement was also sacrificed in favour of the 25mm Typhoon guns taken from reserve units. Such interventions in the construction process break the back of a project - we know this only too well! Result: After its launch in 2021, the first boat was able to begin its acceptance trials in mid-2024 - three years behind schedule! The boat is now under-armed for naval tasks and too expensive for civilian services. Understandably, NVL no longer wants to identify with so much "bungling"
and hopefully pulls the ripcord in time. As is well known, France was also bluntly run into the wall with the submarine construction programme.