ST Engineering reveals Vanguard series offered to Singapore

The ST Engineering Marine Vanguard 130. Photo c/o ST Engineering Marine.

Singapore’s ST Engineering has revealed its new Vanguard series of multi-mission naval ships, which are modular for different missions but uses a common hull design for efficiency and flexibility.

The Vanguard series design concept gives focus to “One Design” which can be applied to multiple classes with modular capabilities. It allows for commonality with a scalable hull form, machinery and equipment, system and layout designs, standards for outfitting and installation processes.

The highlight is on the Vanguard 130 Multi-role Combatant being a potential product for consideration by the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) to replace its ageing Victory-class missile corvettes by around 2030. The RSN has not released its requirements although information previously released by the Singapore Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) gives an idea of what the RSN might be looking for.

The Vanguard 130 is described as a highly reliable platform with a length of 130 meters, a speed of 28 knots, and a displacement of 5,000 tons. It is optimized to allow unmanned vehicle operations, with large doors on both port and starboard sides allow easy access for launching and recovering remotely operated vehicles (ROV) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV).

The ship can also be equipped with ST Engineering’s Launch and Recovery System (LARS) for rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs), and a system for unmanned surface vessels (USV) know as the Q-LARS 2.0. 

The Vanguard 130 can accommodate a 15-ton helicopter or rotary-winged unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on the flight deck, and space in its mission bay and storage area for up to eight 20-foot containerized mission modules.

The ship uses a new ship management system including an integrated platform management system (NERVA), and integrated communications system (SupremeT), and an availability-based integrated management system (AIMS).

Weapons that can fit the Vanguard 130 include a forward 76mm naval gun, anti-ship missile launchers amidships, a vertical launching system (VLS) for anti-aircraft missiles behind the main gun, and remote controlled weapon stations (RCWS) at the bridge wings and other locations in the aft section. Torpedo tubes can also be fitted amidships.



[1] ST Engineering Marine
[2] Jane’s Navy International
[3] Naval News