jimthelad wrote: ↑10 Jul 2022, 11:12
I would propose all B2's be modified (at little expense) to be able to accommodate a modular armament upgrade. This would involve a side sponson on each side of the bridge, fitting points for a telescopic retractable hangar, and also upgrade the existing AS/SS radar, and fit an additional 3 WMC to the bridge/ops room.
Therefore, each vessel could be retrofitted in theatre (in any reasonable small shipyard) following delivery by A400M any of the following (some or all):
. 57mm Bofors (non hull penetrating)
. 2x 30mm Sigma MCW
. 2 x 9 cell XLS in modular bolt on silo (up to 72 CAMM, Brimstone, SPEAR-3, SPEAR EW, Switchblade 200).
. 1 x rotary UAV or Wildcat.
This was proposed a while back in a similar form(can't find the link) and was estimated to cost about £7.8M for the refit and about £23M per kit. This would mean they could go from defence diplomacy to a very fighty littoral warfare ship in 1 week.
Interesting idea, but it will never be so cheap, I'm afraid. For example, you need to significantly improve the CMS on River B2 to handle any of the "up to 72 CAMM, Brimstone, SPEAR-3, SPEAR EW, Switchblade 200". A dedicated good FCS will be needed for the 57mm gun.
Alternatively, I will just think (or dream) of
- thinking about adding kits made of 2x 20ft ISO container, and 2x 10ft ISO container, all could be mounted on the River B2's waist. The kit may be a UAS kit, or a COYOTE (or alike) anti-UAV UAV system (20ft as a hangar, and 10ft as the command modules).
- adding 30mm x 173mm airburst and proximity fused ammo (already available) for anti-UAV defense.
- adding "mount point" of LMM or StarStreak triple launcher on both sides of the bridge wing.
- adding options of increasing the 7.62mm miniGun mount point, so that, if needed, the RiverB2 can be armed with 6x 7.62mm miniGuns and a 30 mm cannon.
This option will require no significant modification to the River B2 hull, which will keep the base hull to be "cheap to operate". This is critically important, because "cheap to operate", " long sea going days" are the strong point of the OPVs.
Note that even added with those kits, River B2s will not be a war-fighter. But, it will be a drone-fighter and close-distance "gun boat" to some extent.
If more war-fighting is needed, another idea is to put a 20 mm CIWS mount in place of the two 10ft ISO containers on her waist. In this case, the up-armed River B2 will carry, 2x Phalanx CIWS, 1x 30mm cannon, 4x 7.62mm miniGuns.