The Nakhoda Ragam Class of 1,940t offshore patrol vessels have been built for Brunei by BAE Systems. The first and second of class, Nakhoda Ragam and Bendahara Sakam, were launched in January and June 2001 at the Scotstoun shipyard of BAE Systems Marine. The launch of the third patrol vessel, the Jerambak, took place in June 2002.
All three vessels have been completed and are awaiting acceptance by the Royal Brunei Navy.
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A dispute between BAE Systems and the Brunei Government regarding the acceptance of the vessels is currently the subject of a hearing at the International Court of Arbitration. A settlement was reached in June 2007 and Brunei accepted delivery of the vesssels. However, the Royal Brunei Navy has no plans to commission the ships. Ownership remains with Brunei.
The vessels are berthed at the James Fisher yard in Barrow and BAE Systems has a contract to maintain the ships. They are to be sold with Lurssen as the selling agent.
The governments of UK and Brunei agreed a memorandum of understanding in 1994 on defence cooperation. Brunei issued a revised request for tenders (RFT) in 1995 for three offshore patrol vessels. In 1995 it was announced that BAE Systems (then GEC Shipbuilders) had been selected as the prime contractor.
The ship design is a new variant of the F2000 family. A high level of automation in the ship allows operation by a crew of 79. Accommodation is provided for the crew and an additional 24 personnel if required.
Command and control
The patrol vessel is equipped with the Nautis II command and weapons control system supplied by Alenia Marconi Systems, now BAE Systems Insyte.
The Nautis II has multifunction consoles to support engagements against airborne, surface and submarine threats. Data is downloaded from the ship’s sensors and weapons systems to provide a battlezone / operational area situation display as well as navigation, target tracking, threat and weapons allocation and weapons control functions.
The command and control system can also operate in
training mode to provide realistic simulated scenarios and engagements.
Missiles
The vessel’s anti-ship missile is the MBDA (Aerospatiale) Exocet MM40 block II missile, with a range of 70km. Range and bearing data are downloaded into the missile’s on-board computer. The missile uses inertial guidance for the cruise phase of the trajectory and then active radar homing by active monopulse seeker head. The sea-skimming missile approaches the target at high subsonic speed, Mach 0.9.
The two blocks of four launch tubes are arranged crossed, one block facing starboard and one to the port side, on the missile deck to the stern of the main mast.
The ship’s surface-to-air missile is the MBDA (BAE Systems) Seawolf, which has a range of up to 6km against aircraft or missiles. The missile uses a microwave link command-to-line-of-sight guidance system with television and radar tracking. A solid
fuel propulsion rocket provides a speed of Mach 2.5.
The 16-cell VLS (vertical launch system) is installed in the forward main gun deck between the main gun and the bridge.
Guns
The main gun, Oto Melara 76mm super rapid, installed on the forward gun deck, provides defence against surface and airborne targets. The firing rate is 110 rounds a minute and range is up to 16km.
Two MSI Defence DS 30B REMSIG 30mm guns, installed on
the port and starboard side on aft upper deck forward of the flight deck, are capable of firing 650 rounds a minute to a range of 10km.
Torpedoes
The ship is equipped with two triple 324mm torpedo tubes from BAE Systems.
Countermeasures
The electronic warfare suite includes a Thales Sensors Cutlass 242 electronic support measures system and a Scorpion radar jammer. The Super Barricade decoy launch system from Wallop Defence is installed on both sides of the raised mast deck just aft
of the bridge.
Aircraft
The aft flight deck, approximately 285m², has a single landing spot for a medium size helicopter, such as the S-70B Seahawk. The ship does not provide hangar facilities.
Sensors
The ship is equipped with a Radamec 2500 electro-optic weapons director, which includes an eye-safe laser range-finder, TV and thermal imager and is used for gun fire control and surveillance. The hull-mounted sonar is the medium frequency Thales Underwater Systems TMS 4130C1.
The large rectangular antenna of the E and F-band air and surface search radar, the BAE Systems Insyte AWS-9 3D for surveillance and target indication, is mounted at the top of the main mast tower.
The radar system also includes two BAE Insyte 1802SW I/J-band radar trackers, which provide target illumination for the Seawolf missile system, Kelvin Hughes Type 1007 navigation radar and Thales Nederland Scout radar for surface search.
Engines
The ship is powered by four MAN 20 RK270 diesel engines driving two shafts. The ships achieve a speed of 30kt. The range at an economical speed of 12kt is 5,000 miles.
