Ultra Fast Attack Craft

The Ultra Fast Attack Craft, commonly known as the Colombo Class, is a Sri Lankan ultra high-speed class of patrol boats meant for a variety of naval missions from off-shore coastal patrol missions to high-speed, high-maneuver littoral warfare.

Class overview
Name: Colombo
Builders: Colombo Dockyard Limited
Operators: See Operators
Subclasses:
  • Series I,
  • Series II,
  • Series III,
  • Coastal surveillance vessel
Cost: USD$2.95 million (Series III)[1]
In commission: 1996
General characteristics
Type: Ultra Fast Attack Craft
Displacement: 52 tons (on Series I and II) 56 tons (on Series III)
Length: 24.30 meters (on Series I and II) 24 meters (on Series III)
Beam: 5.70 meters
Draught: 3 (on Series I and II) 1.1 meters (on Series III)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × MTU 12V 396 TE 94 (1,630kW each) driving with 2x Kamewa water jets
  • or
  • 2 × DEUTZ TBD 620 V16 main engines (4570 hp each)[1] and two Arneson ASD-16 articulating surface drives
Speed: 45.0 knots (on Series I and II) and 53 knots (on Series III)
Range: 500–600 nm
Complement: 10–12 crew
Armament: 1 x Typhoon stabilized system with M242 Bushmaster/Oerlikon 20 mm cannon & additional armaments

Built by Colombo Dockyard Limited for the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN),[1] it became the workhorse of the SLN against Sea tiger boats of the LTTE.

Variants

Series I

The boats of the Series I are 24m long with a mono hull with a vibration-free deck, powered by twin MTU main engines developing 1,630 kW each, driving Kamewa water jets.[2] This enables the boat to reach speeds of 45 knots and have an endurance of 500 nm. It has a crew of 10.[2]

Around 12 were delivered to the Sri Lankan Navy.[1]

Series II

Series II the successor to the earlier type. Main upgrades include the increase of accommodation for a crew of 12 and major improvements the superstructure.[2]

Like the Series I, around 12 were delivered to the Sri Lankan Navy.[1]

Series III

The Series III is the recent addition to the class and has incorporated current combat requirements and experience in the battlefield archived by the Sri Lanka Navy. This new type can achieve speeds in excess of 53 knots, the fastest of its class in the region while housing up to 12 persons in a crew.[2] Series III was designed by the Colombo Dockyard to the Israeli Shaldag Mk II design. First launch of Series III held on 27 July 1996 and it went beyond the abilities of Shaldag Mk II design by exceeding it from the speed, range and payload.[2]

The propulsion system consists of two Diesel MTU 12V 396 TE94 (1,630 kW each) engines driving two articulated surface drives, which were initially designed for competitive speedboats. Arneson Surface Drive-16 articulating propulsion systems drives provide the vessel with thrust vectoring control similar to the Super Dvora Mk III and Shaldag Mk II.[2]

Their thrust-vectoring propulsion system allows Series III to function in shallow waters at drafts of 1.2 meters facilitating special operations forces delivery on enemy shores and catastrophe relief missions.

Coastal surveillance vessel

The two Coastal surveillance vessels built for the Maldivian Coast Guard are very similar to the Series III Ultra Fast Attack Craft. It has more range but at a lower speed of 40 Knots and no armament.[3]

Armament

Currently all Colombo class boats have been designed to allow for the installation of Typhoon 25-30mm stabilized cannon which can be slaved to state-of the art mast-mounted, day and night all weather long range electro-optic systems.[4] In addition to its main armament they carry additional weapon systems such as 20 mm Oerlikon Rear Autocannons, Automatic Grenade Launchers, 7.62mm GPMGs & 12.7mm HMGs.

Series III gun boats comes with Elop MSIS optronic director and Typhoon GFCS as its own weapons control system. Also these crafts use surface search: Furano FR 8250 or Corden Mk 2; I-band as its radar.

As of 2006, the main armament has been upgraded with the addition of M242 Bushmaster 25 mm (25x137mm) chain-fed autocannons [5]

Operators
 Maldives
Maldivian Coast Guard – Coastal surveillance vessels[6][7] under the National Security Service.[3]
 Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Navy – Ultra Fast Attack Crafts[8]

References
  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20031119223114/https://island.lk/2000/09/10/news02.html
  2. "Colombo Dockyard Limited – Ultra Fast Attack Boats and Logistic and Surveillance Craft". naval-technology.com. SPG Media Group PLC. Archived from the original on 28 June 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20190819031415/https://www.cdl.lk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Coastal-Surveillance-Vessel.pdf
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20170826200407/http://www.thesundayleader.lk/archive/20040208/issues-2.htm
  5. http://www.nation.lk/2009/03/15/newsfe7.htm
  6. https://uqp.no/Userfiles/Upload/files/2015-08-04%20Colombo%20Dockyard%20Profile.pdf
  7. http://www.srilankabusiness.com/pdf/industry_capability_reports/2018/boat-building.pdf
  8. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/sri-lanka/industry.htm

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.