Brunei to receive two retired Fearless-class patrol vessels from Singapore

 

The former RSS Gallant (97) before it was retired by the Republic of Singapore Navy in 2020. Photo c/o Singapore MINDEF.


Brunei is scheduled to receive two used Fearless-class patrol vessels from Singapore, as part of close defense relations between the two countries.

The ships are being gifted by the Singapore Government for the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN), as the service appears to be in need of additional patrol vessels to increase its presence within its Exclusive Economic Zone.

The process of transferring the two ships is already underway, with the two ships already identified by a report by British defense media outlet Janes as the former ships of the Republic of Singapore Navy, the  RSS Gallant (97) and RSS Brave (95) which were retired on December 2020 and August 2019, respectively.

Once in service with the Royal Brunei Navy, these two ships will be renamed as the KDB As-Siddiq and KDB Al-Faruq, respectively.

The Fearless-class of the Republic of Singapore Navy was a class of 12 patrol vessels that were built by Singapore Shipbuilding and Engineering, now known as ST Engineering Marine, and have been in service from October 1996 to December 2020 when they were replaced by the new and larger Independence-class littoral missions vessels.

They are 55 meters long and have a displacement of around 500 tonnes, and are armed with an Oto Melara 76mm Compact naval gun, a Typhoon 25mm remote controlled weapon station, two 12.7mm heavy machine guns, and some of the ships are armed with Mistral very short range air defense system and EuroTorp A244/S torpedoes.


While all ships have been decommissioned, four of the ships have been reworked and recommissioned as the Sentinel-class maritime security and response vessels (MSRV) for use to secure the country's internal waters.

Singapore has not announced plans on the final disposition of the 5 remaining ships which are currently stored.




[1] Janes
[2] Naval Technology
[3] Singapore Ministry of Defence

Brunei to receive two retired Fearless-class patrol vessels from Singapore Brunei to receive two retired Fearless-class patrol vessels from Singapore Reviewed by Asia Pacific Defense Journal on March 11, 2023 Rating: 5

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