ST Marine, the marine arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd has launched Unity , the third of overall eight Littoral Mission Vessels (LMV) the company is building for the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).
RSS Unity was named and launched at ST Marine’s Benoi Yard during a ceremony attended by senior officials from Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and the Singapore Armed Forces.
Ng Sing Chan , President for ST Marine, said: “We are making great strides in the LMV programme, made possible only with the hard-work and commitment from the project teams from MINDEF, RSN, DSTA and our many other partners.”
ST Marine was awarded the contract by MINDEF in 2013 to design and build eight LMVs for the RSN. The vessels are expected to be delivered from 2016 and be fully operational by 2020.
They will replace the patrol vessels designed and built by ST Marine in the 1990s. According to ST Marine, the 80-meter LMVs with a displacement of 1,250 tonnes are 2.5 times larger than the current class of patrol vessels in service with the Republic of Singapore Navy.
The LMV programme is in serial production at ST Marine with eight ships under construction or in the pre-construction phase. The first LMV, Independence has returned to Tuas Naval Base on 26 May 2016 and is performing the Checkout, Integration and Testing (CIT) for weapon systems on-board.
The second LMV, Sovereignty is preparing for sea trials while the third LMV, Unity will embark on harbor acceptance trials after her launch.