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| RSS Resilience (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Prashanth Parameswaran
City-state scores victory amid rising incidents in the region.
A Singapore navy vessel successfully disrupted a sea robbery on a Malaysian-flagged tugboat Tuesday.
According to a September 1 press release issued by the Ministry of Defense (MINDEF), the Republic of Singapore Navy’s Maritime Security Task Force (MSTF) had immediately deployed its Fearless-class patrol vessel the RSS Resilience upon receiving a report from the boat – Permata 1 – at around 9am as it was transiting the Singapore Strait.
As I noted in a previous piece, the Fearless-class patrol vessels have been in service with the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) for around two decades and are responsible for the city-state’s coastal defense (See: “What Do We Know About Singapore’s New Warship”). The 55-meter vessels boast a speed in excess of 20 knots, a range of 1,800 nautical miles and can carry a crew of 30. In terms of weapons, they are equipped with a 76 mm OTO Melara SRGM, a Mistral Surface-to-Air Missile or Typhoon Mk 25 Gun, and four CIS 0.5” machine guns. They will be replaced by the new locally-made Littoral Mission Vessel (LMV).
Read the full story at The Diplomat