Senegal Orders 3 Armed Piriou Offshore Patrol Vessels

Republic of Senegal has placed an order with French shipyard Piriou for 3 OPV 58S Offshore Patrol Vessels equipped with MBDA-made Simbad-RC and Marte MK2 missile systems.

“The Ministry of Armed Forces of Senegal and the PIRIOU group have just signed –in the presence of the President of the Republic of Senegal and the French ministerial delegation– a contract to purchase three offshore patrol vessels dedicated to the Senegalese navy,” Piriou Group said in a statement on November 17.

French Naval Group will supply POLARIS combat management systems for the boats. The armament package will include Leonardo 76/62 mm Super Rapido main gun, two Nexter Narwhal 20 mm remotely controlled guns for asymmetric threats defence and an MBDA Simbad RC dual Mistral 3 surface-to-air missile launcher for short-range air and surface defence in addition to two double launchers for MBDA Marte Mk2/N surface-to-surface missiles, reports edrmagazine.eu.

“One of the reasons why Senegal wants to buy these boats is to protect the huge deposits of gas discovered off the coast of the country,” concordant sources were quoted as saying by LA Tribune on Sunday.

Construction of the three vessels will start in early 2020 while their delivery is set to take place by mid-2023. The agreement is inclusive of follow-on support which will be conducted at the local site of PIRIOU NGOM SENEGAL.

With a length and beam of respectively 62.2 and 9.50 meters, the OPV 58S has a steel hull and aluminum superstructures and can reach a maximum speed of 21 knots with a range of 4,500 nautical miles at 12 knots and an operational endurance of 25 days.