An Ultra Fast Attack Craft Series II while speeding |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Colombo |
| Builders: | Colombo Dockyard Limited |
| Operators: | Sri Lanka Navy Maldivian Coast Guard |
| Subclasses: | Series I, Series II, Series III, Coastal surveillance vessel |
| In commission: | 1996 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Ultra Fast Attack Craft |
| Displacement: | 52 tons (on Series I and II) 56 tons (on Series III) |
| Length: | 24.30 meters (on Series I and II) 24 meters (on Series III) |
| Beam: | 3 meters |
| Draught: | 5.70 (on Series I and II) 1.1 meters (on Series III) |
| Propulsion: | 2x MTU 12V 396 TE 94 (1,630kW each) driving with 2x Kamewa water jets or 2x DEUTZ TBD 620 V16 main engines (4570 hp each) and two Arneson ASD-16 articulating surface drives |
| Speed: | 45.0 knots (on Series I and II) and 53 knots (on Series III) |
| Range: | 500 - 600nm |
| Complement: | 10-12 crew |
| Armament: | 1 x Typhoon stabilized system with M242 Bushmaster/Oerlikon 20 mm cannon & additional armaments |
The Ultra Fast Attack Craft, commonly known as the Colombo Class, is an ultra high-speed class of patrol boats meant for a variety of naval missions from typical off-shore coastal patrol mission profiles to high-speed, high-maneuver littoral warfare. Built by Colombo Dockyard Limited for the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) it has become the workhorse of the SLN against Sea tiger boats of the LTTE. The boats of this class are meant for;
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The boats of the Series I are of 24m long with a mono hull with a vibration-free deck, powered by twin MTU main engines each developing 1,630 kW each, driving Kamewa water jets. This enables the boat to reach speeds of 45 knots and have an endurance of 500 nm. It has a crew of 10.[1][2]
Series II the successor to the earlier type. Main upgrades include the increase of accommodation for a crew of 12 and major improvements the superstructure.[1]
The Series III is the recent addition to the class and has incorporated current combat requirements and experience in the battlefield archived by the Sri Lanka Navy. This new type can achieve speeds in excess of 53 knots, the fastest of its class in the region[1] while housing to the 15 persons. Series III was designed by the Colombo Dockyard to the Israeli Shaldag Mk II design. First launch of Series III held on 27 July 1996 and it went beyond the abilities of Shaldag Mk II design by exceeding it from the speed, range and payload.[1][2][3]
The propulsion system consists of two Diesel MTU 12V 396 TE94 (1,630 kW each) engines driving two articulated surface drives, which were initially designed for competitive speedboats. Arneson Surface Drive-16 articulating propulsion systems drives provide the vessel with thrust vectoring control similar to the Super Dvora Mk III and Shaldag Mk II.[1][2][3]
Their thrust-vectoring propulsion system allows Series III to function in shallow waters at drafts of 1.2 meters facilitating special operations forces delivery on enemy shores and catastrophe relief missions.
The two Coastal surveillance vessels built for the Maldivian Coast Guard are very similar to the Series III Ultra Fast Attack Craft. It has more range but at a lower speed of 40 Knots and no armament.
Currently all Colombo class boats have been designed to allow for the installation of Typhoon 25-30mm stabilized cannon which can be slaved to state-of the art mast-mounted, day and night all weather long range electro-optic systems. In addition to its main armament they carry additional weapon systems such as Oerlikon 20 mm cannons, automatic grenade launchers, PKM general purpose machine guns, including 12.7 mm and 7.62 mm machine guns.[3]
Series III gun boats comes with Elop MSIS optronic director and Typhoon GFCS as its own weapons control system. Also these crafts use surface search: Furuno FR 8250 or Corden Mk 2; I-band as its radar.[3]
As of 2006 the main armament has been up graded with the addition of M242 Bushmaster 25 mm (25x137mm) chain-fed autocannons [4]