Re: Lodamun
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2024 5:47 am
Although the programme had existed under the previous conservative administration and some vessels had been launched, owing to a lack of maintenance since their commissioning, Lodamun’s fleet of destroyers, could be considered all but decommissioned. With the General Rearmamant Programme (recently renamed the Naval Modernisation Programme - NMP), well in operation as work on the navy’s future series of guided-missile frigates has already begun, the Defence Procurement Administration has announced that it had awarded Harrington Dynamics Maritime Systems the landmark contract to construct the nation’s future fleet of guided-missile destroyers. The announcement came earlier last week, as DPA Director Dr Owen Reynolds, stated that following an initial assessment by procurement officers attached to the DoD and the Lodamese Navy, both entities had come to an agreement on Harrington Dynamics’ design. HD’s design is largely based on an existing design which until recently had been in operation in the Zardic Armed Forces, but which had been sold off to international parties. The company’s proposed Andrew Neilson-class guided missile destroyer is set to become one of the most advanced and capable warships ever fielded by the Lodamese Navy. According to Harrington Dynamics, although the class of vessels are based on an existing design, the variant to be operated by the Lodamese Navy will undoubtedly possess numerous technological advances which would set it aside from its other variants in Kalistan and formerly Zardugal.
Among the pieces of equipment which is set to be integrated into the proposed vessel, HD’s AEGIS defence system is likely to be featured. Harrington Dynamics’ AEGIS defence system is an advanced weapons platform which allows vessels to track and destroy multiple emerging targets. The company noted that the improvements to the system (which had already existed in a large capacity in other nations), were made in response to numerous situations in the past involving multiple, small moving targets. “Although the system has operated well in the past, there have been instances where it has been overwhelmed by the sheer among of targets. Our improvements to the system would by no means negate this, but will provide the system with additional capacity in taking on a slightly larger target landscape,” a sales representative for HD’s AEGIS system remarked. The proposed vessel design will mirror much of the pre-existing design, as the company noted that as it stood, it’s current design layout was “optimal”. The destroyers, doctrine wise will undoubtedly be positioned as a floating fortress, denoting the numerous weapons systems and munitions likely to be integrated into the design. “We expect that these vessels will be able to respond to a series of challenges in the emerging maritime environment. They will be capable of hunting and destroying enemy submarines, acting as partial air defence systems, and destroying enemy surface combatants via a broad spectrum of weapons including cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles. We want to ensure that these vessels will enable the Lodamese Navy to both project power into new areas of the world as well as defend the nation’s ever-important trade routes.” Enoch Price, Project Manager for the Andrew Neilson-class destroyers at Harrington Dynamics.
As per the contract, Harrington Dynamics will be expected to construct 15 of these guided missile destroyers as part of a long-term programme. As the NMP is a long-term project expected to transit through various administrations going into the future, it is expected that the aforementioned 15 is simply an initial order, and the navy’s fleet of destroyers will likely swell beyond that figure decades into the future. The per-unit cost of the vessels has been estimated at $2 billion LOD, with the order of 15 placing the contract’s entire value at $30 billion. The Office of Fiscal Management notes that although the NMP is largely being financed through loan financing agreements with private sector banks within Lodamun, exorbitant spending could upend the long-term feasibility of the entire rearmament/modernisation programme. It urged that the construction of larger quantities of vessels remain in Lodamun, as it noted that constructing vessels externally, could potentially place significant strain on the nation’s foreign reserves, which could eventually lead to BOP issues in the future, thereby upending the programme.