Nigeria purchases two Turkish offshore patrol vessels

Africa, Middle East, News November 6, 2021 , by IRIA No Comments

The Nigerian Navy signed a contract with the Turkish Dearsan Shipyard for the purchase of two new 76 Class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs). The vessels will be designed and built entirely in the Dearsan shipyard’s facilities and are expected to be delivered in 2024.

Two offshore patrol vessels 76 will be tailored to meet the Nigerian Navy’s needs and are expected to be completed in 37 months under the contract signed between the Turkish Dearsan Shipyard and the Nigerian Navy.

The ships will be equipped with local sensors and systems, but the signatories have not disclosed the details of the systems. According to the information provided by Istanbul-based Dearsan Shipyard, the vessel is equipped with one 40 mm Leonardo Light Naval Gun, one 76mm Leonardo Super Rapid Gun, two 12.7mm Stabilized Automatic Machine Guns, two 12.7mm Manual Use Machine Guns, and two SAM SIMBAD RC MBDA, short-range anti-air self-defense systems with two fire-and-forget MISTRAL missiles.

The OPV 76 ship has a length of 76.8 meters, a beam of 11 meters, and a draft of 2.9 meters, with a range of 3000nm, and can carry a crew of 43 to 46 sailors.

*^{Turkey’s Offshore Patrol Vessel OPV 76 (Image Credit: Dearsan Shipyard}*

Director of Information at Abuja Naval Headquarters Brigadier General Suleiman Dakhon quoted Nigeria’s Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo as saying that the signing of the contract was another milestone achievement for the Nigerian Navy in its fleet renewal efforts towards realizing strategic plan for 2021-2030.

Nigerian Vice Admiral Gambo recalled the Nigerian Navy’s efforts during the past few months in curbing piracy and armed attacks against ships and sustaining an aggressive presence in the maritime domain that led to a drastic reduction in maritime crimes.

Vice Admiral Gambo also highlighted the importance of the contract as it would assist Nigeria’s naval forces to conduct swift surveillance, maritime and special forces operations, and offer support to land forces. “The OPVs will also be capable of conducting search and rescue operations, anti-piracy, anti-smuggling and anti-drug trafficking operations, and disaster relief operations among others,” Gambo added.

Chief of the Naval Staff Awwal Gambo also revealed that the Nigerian Navy chose Turkish Dearsan Shipyard because of its track record and the shipyard’s ability to build a platform that can be deployed as an OPV in peacetime while having the flexibility and ability to be quickly deployed with weapons and sensors to re-role the platform for warfare and maritime defense purposes at a cost-effective price.

The two new Turkish-built OPV 76 will enhance Nigeria’s naval capacity currently served by two P-18N OPVS, two Hamilton-class patrol cutters, a number of fast patrol missile-boats, and several inshore patrol vessels.

The agreement was signed a few days after Nigeria and Turkey pledged to deepen their bilateral relations. During his visit to Abuja, Nigeria last month, Turkish President Erdogan said “We are strengthening our cooperation on military defense and security issues with Nigeria, which is fighting against terrorist organizations, armed gangs, and piracy”