Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1467328
and the potential cost of such upgrades. According to statements made by the Representatives of the Armament Agency, the diffe- rences between the products offered have been minor. One of the two aforesaid bids, submitted by Babcock, was the „first choice", while the other was considered to be the „alternative variant". These two offers were finally being negotiated by the PGZ Miecznik con- sortium. Finally - on March 4th - it was announced that the UK's proposal became the winning bid. On that date, the PGZ Miecznik consortium signed agreements with three British entities. Babcock is to be responsible for the platform, based on the Arrowhead 140 design. Thales UK would deliver the ship's integrated combat sys- tem. MBDA, meanwhile, would be tasked with supplying the air de- fense system based on the CAMM-ER SAMs. The conclusion of the aforesaid agreements is the beginning of the next phase of the program. This phase would concern the develop- ment of the preliminary design that would be followed by a review of the Industrial Feasibility Study. At the same time, it is assumed that TOKAT (Transfer of Knowledge and Technology) would be launched. This would result in a transfer of the project-relevant know-how to the Polish contractors. After the domestic shipyards and busines- ses get ready to launch the shipbuilding process, the build of the first frigate is to commence in 2023. The commissioning is expec- ted to happen 5 years later. The delivery of another two vessels (fi- nalization of the shipbuilding phase) is scheduled to be completed by 2034. Nonetheless, the representatives of the PGZ Miecznik consortium are making attempts to convince the Ordering Party to redefine the schedule, accelerating the whole process by around years. This would make it possible to avoid unnecessary and costly interruptions, between shipbuilding processes concerning the first, and another two vessels. THREE BIDS ARROWHEAD 140 The first - and ultimately selected - the bid is the British Arrowhead 140. It is a 138-meter-long warship with a displacement of 5,700 tonnes. This specification may change, depending on the configu- ration selected by the Polish customer. As in the case of another two proposals, the Polish MoD received three variants of the bid: NAVY