Singapore's MRCV will use IFEP from GE Vernova

Illustrious contributor, Shawn Chung, has commented offline that the power type for Singapore's frigates are improving. The power types are progressing from Combined Diesel and Diesel (CODAD), in the current Formidable-class frigates, to Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP), in the Singapore Navy’s six-ship future frigate currently called the Multi-Role Combat Vessel (MRCV).

GE Vernova’s Power Conversion business has been awarded a contract by Singapore shipbuilder ST Engineering Marine Limited to supply its Ship’s Electric Grid with Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) equipment for the MRCV program.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2024/03/ge-vernova-to-supply-full-electric-propulsion-systems-for-singapores-mrcv/

The MRCVs are being built by Saab, Odense and Singapore Technologies ST Engineering Marine Ltd's at Singapore's Shipyard probably drawing on the Absalon/Iver Huitfeldt designs. Back in 2020, when Pete posted about the MRCV, Shawn commented that his  personal favourite guess was that the future MRCVs would be based on the UK Type 26 design.

[Pete Comment: Australia as usual made a poor decision in actually choosing UK BAE's underdeveloped Type 26 design. Like all RAN projects since 2010, the Hunter-class variant is late and overbudget. Not to be forgot BAE is the builder of the equally late overbudget Astute SSN. With some foreboding BAE has been chosen to design and mainly build the SSN-AUKUS. In contrast Singapore always chooses ships and subs more wisely and vastly more cheaply than Australia.] 

Back to Shawn's MRCV - So the MRCV now looks like it'll be related to the UK Type 31 [with the UK Type 31 due in service 2027] which is itself a derivative of the Danish Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate ) but larger. 

The power load for the 8,000 tonne MRCV will be quite high, as apart from a communication system that can simultaneously handle multiple drones (and recharge them), the class will also use large fixed array Sea Fire AESA radar, the larger variant for big frigates and destroyers (bigger than the Sea Fire 500 equipping the FDi) IFEP is still quite a cutting edge technology for naval ships.

45 seconds into the above (and here) Youtube, Naval News' Xavier Vavasseur is interviewing about the MRCV.
---

FURTHER BACKGROUND

Gordon Arthur for Naval News, March 14, 2024 reported https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2024/03/singapore-cuts-steel-on-its-first-multirole-combat-vessel-mrcv/ in part:

“Singapore’s future class of Multirole Combat Vessels (MRCV) took a significant step forward on 8 March [2024], when ST Engineering Marine cut steel on the first of six vessels.”…

The MRCV design – resembling ST Engineering’s own Vanguard 130 concept (that is 130m long and displaces 5,000 tonnes) features an integrated mast, stern flight deck, helicopter hangar and twin stern ramps for deploying small craft. A strong candidate for the integrated mast must be the Saab Lightweight Integrated Mast (SLIM), since it is already employed on Singapore’s eight Independence-class vessels.

The MRCV will replace six 595-tonne Victory-class missile corvettes within the RSN, but Singapore’s MINDEF remains tight-lipped about exact specifications and equipment. However, it is obvious that the MRCVs will be far more capable and larger than the six-corvette Victory class that dates from the early 1990s.

Naval News learned from various industry sources during IMDEX Asia 2023 that the MRCV would have a displacement of around 8,000 tons and a crew complement of about 80 sailors, indicating a high level of automation in the platform. Naval News understand that the mothership vessels would feature: 

Leonardo’s 76mm naval gun in the STRALES variant;

·  MBDA’s VL MICA NG and Aster B1 NT air defence missiles;

·  ST Engineering / IAI Blue Spear anti-ship missiles;

·  Thales’ SeaFire multifunction radar (in four fixed array configuration as aboard
         the FDI frigate);

·  Safran’s PASEO XLR EO/IR system;

·  Safran’s NGDS decoy launching system.

The MRCV is set to become the first surface combatant fitted with a combination of ASTER and VL MICA missiles. The RSN is an existing user of both missiles: ASTER are fitted aboard the Formidable-class frigates while VL-MICA are fitted aboard the Littoral Mission Vessels.

The vessels are set to host, launch and recover ST Engineering’s VENUS family of unmanned surface vessels (USV), both in their mine warfare and maritime security variants. The MRCV will also accommodate a number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

During the naval defense event held in Singapore last year we also learned that competitions were still ongoing for the secondary gun systems (between Leonardo’s Hitrole and Rafael’s Typhoon), the sonar suite (between DSIT and Thales) and the torpedoes (between MU90 and A244 MOD.3 LWT), among other equipment. 

Story by Gordon Arthur with additional reporting by Xavier Vavasseur”