THE SECOND MINE COUNTERMEASURE VESSEL FOR THE ALGERIAN NAVY LAUNCHED

Sarzana, 20^th December 2018

The second Mine Countermeasure Vessel for the Algerian Navy named “El-Kasseh 2” was launched today at the Intermarine Shipyard in Sarzana.

Like the twin First of Class “El-Kasseh 1”, the characteristic of this Vessel is the capacity to control a potentially mined sea area obtained by means of the protection of sea routes leading to naval bases and ports of interest. The main tasks of the Unit are active mine-hunting, characterized by activities of reconnaissance and neutralization of the possible mines, and passive mine-hunting, realized by means of the patrol of navigation channels, delimitation of minefields and the guiding of the ships through safe routes. The Vessel has been designed in order to accomplish also secondary missions such as research and rescue.

The launching ceremony was attended by high representatives of the Italian Industry as well as by civil and military Italian and Algerian Authorities. As far as Industry is concerned, the following Representatives took the floor: Mr. Livio Corghi, C.E.O. of Intermarine, Mr. Davide Fazio, Marketing&Sales Director of Leonardo-ETN, Mr. Giacomo Sardina, C.E.O. of Orizzonte Sistemi Navali. The Algerian Navy was represented by General Abdelaziz Challal, Commander in Chief of the Western Maritime Facade of the Algerian Navy, and by the Representative of the Italian Embassy of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, Mr. Imed Selatnia. General Challal entered the ceremony location accompanied by Vice Admiral Giorgio Lazio, Commander in Chief of the Northern Maritime Facade of the Italian Navy.

The contract for the second Mine Countermeasure Vessel to be assigned to Orizzonte Sistemi Navali was signed on 13^th October 2016 and entered into force on 23^rd January 2017, date in which the works for the preparation of the hull construction started. In May 2017 the hull was removed from the mould while in December of the same year the upper deck was installed on board. The superstructure followed, in June 2018. The delivery of the Vessel is programmed, according to the Contract, for the month of March 2020.

The Vessel has an overall length of 52,45 m, an overall breadth of 10 m and a depth from the main deck of about 5 m, the full load displacement is of 720 tons. The main propulsion system, based on two 1000 KW engines, allows a maximum speed of 15 knots; an auxiliary propulsion system permits precision navigation and the low speed navigation on the minefield. The Ship can also accomplish operational activities with a maximum autonomy of 15 days.

The crew will be composed by 46 members including 4 divers. The Ship is also equipped in order to provide accommodation up to 12 members of the special forces. The crew operational training will be entirely realized in Italy, thanks to the precious collaboration of the Italian Navy, and will be accomplished within June 2020.

The launching of this second Vessel witnesses once again the relationship of strong cooperation and mutual consideration which has been established between Algeria and the Italian Defense Industry, here represented by Orizzonte Sistemi Navali as Prime Contractor for the Mine Countermeasure Vessel Programme, with the support of Leonardo for the Combat System part and Intermarine for the Platform part.

As underlined by Mr. Sardina during his speech, “[…] Algerian Navy continues to confirm itself in the role not of simple client but of industrial partner”.