BARZAN (VITA) CLASS

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In 1992 Qatar ordered four Barzan (Vita) Class fast strike craft for the Qatar Emiri Navy from British shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft at Southampton. The first two ships QENS Barzan and Huwar were handed over in 1996 and the final two ships QENS Al Udeid and Al Deebel were delivered in 1998.

DESIGN

The design is a derivative of the Vosper Thornycroft 56 metre patrol craft built for Oman and Kenya, with a redesigned internal arrangement and superstructure which has provided a second deck at tank level. Modification to the hull included increasing the freeboard amidships and flaring the topsides to widen the beam at the weatherdeck. The hull and superstructure design have incorporated features for reduction of radar cross section. Active roll damping fin stabilisers have been added for operation in high sea states. The Vita class incorporates watertight zoning to meet the British Royal Navy stability requirements of flooding in two adjacent main compartments.

The overall length is 56m with waterline length, 52m. The moulded breadth is 9m and the draught amidships is 2.5m. The displacement is 380 tonnes. The fresh water capacity is 8.0 tonnes and the oil fuel capacity is 8.0 tonnes and 44 tonnes. The Vita class carries a complement of 7 officers, 12 senior ratings, 12 junior ratings and 4 trainees.

MAIN PROPULSION

The Barzan is driven by four MTU 20V 538 TB93 diesels, 18740 hp, in two machinery spaces, each driving a fixed pitch propeller. The two machinery spaces are capable of being operated independently. One man operation from the bridge of the propulsion, electrical generation and auxiliary systems is possible using a machinery control and surveillance system. The maximum speed is 35 knots and the range is in excess of 1800nm at 12 knots.

WEAPONS AND SENSORS

The Barzan (Vita) class is equipped with two quadruple launchers for Aerospatiale MM40 Exocet surface to surface sea-skimming missiles.

Each of the two installations with four launcher containers, complete with missiles weighs 9.5 tonnes. With a range of from 4 to 70km, the MM40 Exocet missile has inertial cruise guidance, active radar homing, and a warhead of 165kg. The data system for the Exocet is the SEWACO from Signaal. The dimensions of the type MM40 Exocet are length 5.78m x diameter 0.35m x wing span 1.13m. The weight is 855 or 870kg. The MM40 Exocets have folding wings. The cruise height of the Exocet missile is about 100m, in the approach phase the height is 10 to 15m and in the terminal sea-skimming phase the height is 5 to 8m or even down to 2m over a calm sea.

The surface to air missile system is the Matra Bae Dynamics Sadral sextuple launcher with Mistral. The infra-red guided Mistral has a range of 4km. The warhead consisting of 1kg of high explosive and loaded with 2kg of tungsten balls is fitted with an impact and laser proximity fuse.

The gun is the Otobreda 76mm/62 Super Rapid, with 85 degree elevation, delivery 120 rounds per minute, and range 16km. The shell weight is 6kg.The ammunition supply and feed system for the gun is installed below the deck. A three-man crew feeds the ammunition onto a revolving feed magazine which surrounds the trunk of the mount. The feed magazine usually contains 70 rounds while another 10 rounds are in the upper mounting and in the screw feeder. The round is taken from the revolving magazine into the screw feeder hoist and then into the upper mounting. A feeding device drops the round into the loading tray where it is rammed into the breech. The mounting control console is below-decks and is linked to the Signaal Sting fire control system.

The close-in-weapon system is the 30mm calibre Goalkeeper from Signaal. Goalkeeper automatically carries out the hostile engagement from initial search through to destruction and kill-assessment. When the target is detected, threat evaluation and threat priority are determined, the target is designated and tracked by the I- and K-band radars. Goalkeeper has seven barrels with a combined delivery rate of 4,200 rounds per minute and range 200m to 3km. The Vita class is also equipped with two 12.7mm machine guns.

ELECTRONIC WARFARE

Countermeasures include the Matra Defence Dagaie Mk 2 chaff dispensers, Thomson-CSF DR3000S electronic support measures and Dassault Salamandre ARB 33 radar jammer.

COMBAT DATA SYSTEM AND WEAPONS CONTROL

The combat data system is the Signaal SEWACO FD with the fully distributed Thomson-CSF Domain Naval Combat System (NCS) TACTICOS combat management system and a Link Y. Tacticos provides automatic threat assessment, weapon assignment and sensor allocation. Weapons control is provided by the Signaal STING optronic director and the IRSCAN infra-red search and track system provides passive surveillance for the Goalkeeper close-in-weapon system.

Track data is provided to the Ototbreda 76mm/62 Super Rapid naval gun by the Signaal STING fire control radar and electro-optical tracking system. STING has I-band radar for target acquisition and I/K band radar for tracking. Features include burst to burst frequency agility and pulse repetition frequency (PRF) stagger. Signal processing techniques include the application of multichannel Fast Fourier Transforms, FFTs. Tracking is supported by television and optional infra-red camera tracking and a laser rangefinder. The system provides sector search with automatic target detection, projectile location and kill-assessment. The optronic sensors provide passive surveillance and threat detection under conditions of radar silence.

RADARS

The air and surface search radar is the Thomson-CSF MRR operating at E to F band. The I-band navigation radar is Kelvin Hughes 1007 and the I/J band fire-control radar is the STING from Signaal.

HULLS

QENS Barzan (1996), QENS Huwar (1996), QENS Al Udeid (1997), QENS Adeebel (1997).