Keel laying ceremony for five Padma class Batch II patrol craft held at KSY

[The Ronin]

A keel laying ceremony was held earlier today to commence the construction of 5 new Padma class Patrol Craft at the Khulna Shipyard (KSY) for the Bangladesh Navy.

 

[Avicenna]

As per Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma-class_patrol_vessel

"On 2nd November 2019, Khulna Shipyard started making 2nd batch of 5 padma class patrol vessel for Bangladesh Navy.Having The same hull, armament of batch II slightly modified as this new batch will have one 30 mm Remote controlled Gun & one 12.7 mm anti aircraft/Heavy machine gun. All the ships expected to be delivered by 2021-2022."

Why the change in armament?

 

[Bilal9]

As per Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma-class_patrol_vessel

"On 2nd November 2019, Khulna Shipyard started making 2nd batch of 5 padma class patrol vessel for Bangladesh Navy.Having The same hull, armament of batch II slightly modified as this new batch will have one 30 mm Remote controlled Gun & one 12.7 mm anti aircraft/Heavy machine gun. All the ships expected to be delivered by 2021-2022."

Why the change in armament?

Well armament used to be :

• 2 × 37mm canon
• 2 × 20mm AA guns

And currently consists of:

• 1 x 30 mm Remote controlled Gun
• 1 x 12.7 mm anti aircraft/Heavy machine gun

Honestly - I believe the lower level of armament is still sufficient for the type of adversaries these craft will face in the near-shore patrols they will undertake (as they are not LPC's). For their intended role which is,

1. maritime patrol,
2. search-and-rescue (SAR), and
3. protection of economic water close to shore

no more armament is really needed.

I am sure they can call for backups of larger LPC's or even corvettes if required.

 

[The Ronin]

Why the change in armament?

They reshaped the hull and previous gun was manually operated.

1 x 12.7 mm anti aircraft/Heavy machine gun

Two 12.7 mm anti aircraft/Heavy machine guns

 

[Bilal9]

By the way, we need to move beyond the old design of the Padma class which is at least two decades old.

Case in point is the Damen 5009 - which is roughly the same size as the Padma Class at 50 meters LOA. These new designs are all powered by water-jet engines, similar designs were already built by private yards in Bangladesh (Western Marine, CTG) for foreign customers. We can get license from Damen and build these locally.

Unless we start building first-tier designs from first-tier marine architects like Damen, we cannot build a vibrant export portfolio and market our shipbuilding expertise to customers in First world marine vessel markets.

This Damen design (5009) below was built in Ecuador for their Navy (same role as Padma class). Lighter weight and much faster (and much better ride and sea-keeping) for fast-response role. We should build a few - (even if lower in number) for top tier needs as our needs change.

And what I don't get is why patrol craft (even inshore patrol craft) in Bangladesh do not have a rear launch ramp for a RHIB. This concept has been present for more than two decades now...