MBDA to equip Senegalese offshore patrol vessels with MARTE MK2/N anti-ship missiles, SIMBAD-RC system and MISTRAL missiles

On 21 October General Birame DIOP, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Senegal, and Admiral Oumar WADE, Chief of Staff of the Navy of Senegal, attended the steel-cutting ceremony of the first of three offshore patrol vessels ordered by Senegal.

The OPV 58 S will be equipped with MARTE MK2/N anti-ship missiles. With the ability to strike at ranges in excess of 30 kilometres and their fire-and-forget capability, these missiles will provide the means to the Senegalese Navy to enforce their maritime superiority. The vessels will also benefit from the SIMBAD-RC air defence system and its MISTRAL missiles- this combination providing an extremely effective defence capability against all threats including anti-ship missiles, combat aircraft, UAVs, helicopters, as well as small surface threats such as those presented by FIACs.

The first cutting ceremony took place yesterday at PIRIOU shipyard in Concarneau (France). This ship is the first unit of the contract for the supply of three offshore patrol vessels. The building programme is carried out with the support and expertise of PIRIOU’s subsidiary KERSHIP and will spread over a period of 44 months up to summer 2024.

The contract was signed in November 2019 by the Ministry of Armed Forces of Senegal and the PIRIOU group, in the presence of the President of the Republic of Senegal and the French ministerial delegation.

To read PIRIOU’s Press Release, click here.