Late in 2014 Portugal’s navy announced intentions to acquire four retired Flyvefisken-class (Stanflex 300) multifunction guided-missile patrol craft from Denmark. Fourteen of the 450-ton (full load) craft were originally built between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, with the last units retired from Danish service by 2011. These boats are designed to be configurable for a wide variety of missions, including patrol, intelligence collection, antiship warfare, antisubmarine warfare (ASW), minesweeping, minelaying, survey, oceanographic research, buoy tending, and fisheries-protection operations. The four units being transferred reportedly include the Glenten, Ravnen, Skaden, and Viben (pictured here), all of which were previously configured as small combatants. In Danish service the vessels could carry up to 8 Harpoon antiship missiles and 12 Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles in their missile-boat configurations, or a variable-depth sonar and torpedoes when fitted for ASW. Up to 60 mines could be carried when used as a minelayer. Three Flyvefisken sisters were also transferred to Lithuania between 2008 and 2010.
This past December the Norwegian Ministry of Defence announced that it will begin planning for a new class of submarines to replace its six aging Ula-class boats. The German-built Ula-class (also called Type 210) submarines are 194 feet long, displace 1,150 tons submerged, and include the boats Ula, Utsira, Utstein (pictured here), Utvaer, Uthaug, and Uredd, all of which were designed for a service life of 30 years and entered service between 1989 and 1992. As they approach retirement, Norway has decided that recent submarine technology and advances dictate acquisition of an entirely new design rather than modernization of the existing fleet. A new submarine class is to be selected around 2016, and deliveries of these boats are expected to begin in the mid-2020s. The Ula boats are expected to remain operational at least through 2020.
In late January Australia announced plans to donate two of its recently retired Balikpapan-class heavy landing craft to the Philippines. The two vessels, formerly named HMAS Tarakan (pictured here) and Brunei, were retired on 19 November 2014 and are now undergoing refurbishment prior to transfer later this year. Eight of the 500-ton vessels were built in Australia in the early 1970s; three sisters were retired in 2012, while two units were transferred to Papua New Guinea in 1974, followed by another craft (ex-HMAS Labuan, renamed the Lakekamu) this past December. Able to transport a maximum of 180 tons of cargo, the 146-foot vessels have a beam of 33 feet, a maximum range of more than 2,000 nautical miles, and a top speed of 9 knots. The Philippines has recently been working to enhance its naval capabilities, and these amphibious landing craft will help maritime forces respond better to natural disasters and threats to contested territory in the South China Sea.
Mr. Wertheim, a defense consultant in the Washington, D.C., area, is the author of the new 16th edition of The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, available from the Naval Institute Press (see www.usni.org).