Colombia awards construction contract for first PES frigate

Scale model of the future PES 10714CO (March 2024), with the systems it will deploy. (Erich Saumeth)

Colombia acknowledged the award of a USD435 million contract to Dutch company Damen Shipyards Group on 10 August for the construction of its first Strategic Surface Platform PES 10714CO.

According to details provided by the different system contractors, the PES 10714CO will have a length of 107.5 m, a beam of 14.02 m, a draught of 3.93 m, and a displacement of 2,808 tonnes.

The vessel has an autonomy of 20–25 days with a crew of 100–117, an operational range of up to 8,200 n miles, with two 10 MW diesel engines and two 1.3 MW electric engines, plus four 940 kW and one 200 kW diesel generators.

The engines will provide maximum speeds of up to 26 kt and economical speeds of up to 14 kt, also featuring the Cotecmar-Sisdef Link-CO naval tactical system and an Integrated Platform Control System.

The Saab Sea Giraffe 4A FF (fixed face) radars, the Saab EOS-500 light electro-optical fire-control system, the Saab Ceros 200 system, and the CRS 8000 type communications reconnaissance system were selected as preliminary electronic systems.

The ship also will feature a General Dynamics Mission Systems HMS 510 sonar, the Indra Rigel electronic support measures (ESM) and electronic countermeasures (ECM) support systems, the Genasys LRAD 1950XL detection system, and the Terma C-Guard DL-12T decoys.