The Mexican Navy’s Patrulla Oceánica de Largo Alcance (POLA) corvette is now 78 percent complete as the command bridge – the final Dutch-built module – arrived at the ASTIMAR 20 shipyard in Oaxaca late August.
The Mexican Navy announced on Wednesday that the module had been installed and that a ceremonial launch of the vessel is set for November 23.
POLA is based on Damen’s SIGMA 10514 vessel design capable of sailing at speeds of up to 25+ knots and staying at sea for more than 20 days.
Dutch shipbuilder Damen and the Mexican Navy agreed to build two of the overall six modular sections of the vessel at Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS) in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, with the remaining four modules to be built locally in Mexico.
Earlier this year, the US government authorized Mexico to buy a range of weapons and systems for the ship. These include RGM-84L Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles, Block II Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) surface-to-air missiles, MK 54 Mod 0 lightweight torpedoes and an 8-cell MK56 VLS launcher along with Evolved Seasparrow Missiles (ESSM).
Once it is launched in November, the 107-meter ship will proceed with further outfitting and trials in 2019 while delivery and commissioning are expected in 2020.