Kongsberg Maritime has been selected to supply controllable pitch propellers and shaft lines to ship builder Damen Naval for a series of four Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) frigates, according to the company's release.
The new ASW frigates are being built for the Netherlands and Belgium and will replace the current Karel Doorman-class multi-purpose frigates.
They will be deployed for a wide variety of tasks, with anti-submarine warfare as their main purpose. The ships will have hybrid diesel-electric propulsion and will be designed to operate as quietly as possible. The first ship is expected to be delivered by Damen Naval in 2028.
As part of this contract, Kongsberg Maritime will supply four shipsets of its controllable pitch propeller systems and associated equipment including blades, hubcaps, hubs, and shaft lines.
This is the second collaboration between Damen Naval and Kongsberg Maritime in the past 18 months, and follows a similar contract signed by the companies in September 2022 for the German navy’s F126 frigates.
The new frigates are for the Dutch and Belgian navies, replacing the Karel Doorman-class frigates, with the first vessel to be delivered in 2028.