ROYAL NAVY HMS Richmond has replaced HMS Diamond as Britain’s contribution to Operation Prosperity in the Red Sea. Prior to the changeover, the Type 45 destroyer downed her ninth drone with a Sea Viper missile. Diamond now holds the record for the most aerial threats neutralised by a RN warship in one day (seven) and the first confirmed aerial kill with small arms (using her 30mm gun) since HMS Jamaica in 1950.
IRISH NAVY The Department of Defence has given formal notice of the procurement of a Multi-Role Vessel for the Irish Naval Service. The €300 million MRV will be ‘capable of providing a flexible and adaptive capacity for a wide range of maritime tasks, both at home and overseas. It is anticipated the new vessel will also be enabled for helicopter operation and freight/personnel carrying operations and will be the flagship of the Irish naval fleet’.
PHILIPPINE NAVY The first of two new landing platform docks was laid down at the PT PAL shipyard in Indonesia on 22 January. The as-yet-unnamed ships will be identical to the pair of Tarlac class LPDs, built at the same shipyard, that were introduced between 2015 and 2017. The South Korean design is based on the Indonesian Navy’s Makassar class, with variants also in service with the navies of Peru and Myanmar.