Australia starts construction of third Arafura-class offshore patrol vessel

Artist's impression on the Arafura-class OPV. Photo c/o Civmec Shipyard.

Australian shipbuilder Civmec Shipyard has started construction of the third Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), as announced by the Australian Department of Defence (DOD) on 27 March 2020.

The ship is the first of the twelve ships ordered to be built by the Henderson, Western Australia-based shipyard, as the first two ships of the class were built in South Australia by Osborne Naval Shipyard.

The ship is expected to be operational with the RAN by 2024.

The Arafura-class OPVs were acquired under a A$3.6 billion (US$2.5 billion) deal signed on January 2018 with German shipbuilder Lurssen, through its Australian subsidiary Lurssen Australia, under the RAN’s SEA 1180 Phase 1 program.

Lurssen offered to use their PV80 patrol vessel design, which is similar to the Darussalam-class OPVs used by the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN). It has an overall length of 80 meters, a beam of 13 meters, a hull draught of 4 meters, and a standard displacement of around 1,650 tons. 

The Arafura-class are expected to replace several existing ships in the RAN fleet including the Armidale and Cape-class patrol boats, the Huon-class minehunters, and possibly the Leeuwin and Paluma-class survey ships.

The first ship, the Arafura, started construction in November 2018 and is expected to be in service with the RAN by 2023.


[1] Jane’s Defence Weekly
[2] Naval News