I'm the necromancer
Kongsberg group together with Salt Ship Design, have recently showed what they have done and worked on, for the Vanguard project.
The Vanguard Project, The "little" workhorse
A standardized design, that can be adjusted or/and modified for the task. The advantage they hope for, is that is shall be cost-effective and fast production of the vessels. But also reduced life-cycle cost (Kongsberg, says up to 50%, and they are usually right in their predictions)
That it is standardized means that part of the production is standard for all models. The base is built on civilian standards and technologies. At the same time, they must satisfy military requirements, and will have the opportunities to adapt the vessel with weapons and other properties as needed, says Håøy.
In the presentation to Kongsberg Gruppen, four different models for the vessel were presented: three variants of a coastguard vessel and a minesweepers vessel.
(There wasn't shown any toward the media, or media didn't bother show anything)
The vessel will function as a mother ship for unmanned vessels and drones, both underwater, at sea and in the air. The unmanned vessels and drones must be able to conduct mine search and minesweeping. If one is to be so unlucky that a mine goes off, personnel will not be lost.
The minesearch and minesweeping part is very interesting for the Navy, since Oksoy and Alta Class is on there last "breath" (to say it that way). And the Navy have a project going on of new vessel in that department with AUV.
And secondly:
- The entire navy, and large parts of the Coast Guard, must either be replaced or greatly modernized to maintain a minimum of combat power over the next 5-8 years. At the moment, we lack both money and political will to do this, he wrote in the post on March 3 this year.
The Government might be more willing to allocate money, if the project give more bang for the money they allocate. But as of today, the Government have announced that on Friday 18. Mars they will announce a increased funding for the military (it will mostly go toward increasing the military presence in the North), But at the same time, the military and the Government are working on the new structure for the future military, specially toward the fleet structure of the Navy.
At the moment I have only seen two version. There are only 3D pictures and a model version of them. so I free hand drawn them
Version 1: A AUV mothership, with helicopter hangar, using standard ISO-containers for various equipment. (Note: Main gun is the new Oto Marlin 40mm gun (I drawn it free hand))
Version 2: is also A AUV version, it appears to be a little lower then version 1 for obvious reason. The entire aft deck is enclosed for storage of AUV, there is also talk about an elevator in the design.
My tough: It's an interesting concept, that can free up a lot of resources, cheaper then purpose build ships, look at Oksoy and Alta Class for example, in total Norway had 5 and 4 (today 3 & 3) of them for minehunting and minesweeping. The cost of operating those 6 ships with crew could be reduced with a few standard vessels with AUV, that can change mission, when needed (if it done correct, something I think it is, since Kongsberg is paying the entire bill for the project at the moment).
Norway is a small country with a small population, yes we have money to build and operate a 100 ship Navy like we hadde during the cold war (Many of them was small submarines and MTB's and MKB's in large numbers (missile PT-boats with ot without torpedoes)) But what do we need today? that is a big question. What I think, is the resources to escort and have/hold safe harbour for allied reinforcement (NATO) if the worse was to happen, that mean large escort vessels with endurance (frigates) and harbour/coast protections (small patrol vessels etc.)
