United Arab Emirates Corvettes will be Equipped with MASS
12 February 2005
Following in the wake of the navies of Germany, Norway, Finland and Sweden, in June 2004 the United Arab Emirates likewise opted for the MASS naval decoy system, which is made by Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH (RWM).
Signed with the ABDS shipyard in Abu Dhabi, the contract is worth some €4.5 million. Four Bayunah-class multipurpose missile corvettes ordered by the Navy of the United Arab Emirates will be equipped with MASS, which stands for "Multi Ammunition Softkill System". Delivery of the first of these ships is planned for 2008.
Manufactured at Rheinmetall's Naval/Air Competency Centre at Fronau in Bavaria, MASS represents a whole new departure in protecting ships from missile attacks both in littoral zones and on the high seas. It works by firing volleys of decoys, sequentially timed to divert incoming enemy missiles from their intended target, eventually causing them to fly off into empty space. Highly innovative, these programmable omni-spectral decoys ensure maximum protection in all relevant wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum (UV, EO, laser, infrared and radar).
An important milestone was attained in January 2005. Following installation of the first MASS twin-launcher system on board the Finnish R2000-class ship 'Tornio', the first two MASS launchers were delivered to Sweden just nine months after the procurement contract was signed with the Royal Swedish Navy. Within a week, they had been successfully installed on board the two Stockholm-class corvettes 'Stockholm' and 'Malmö'.
In the case of the Swedish order, RWM successfully took up the task of system integrator, assuming sole responsibility for mechanical and software integration of the new system. The 'Malmö' was already able to set out on its first training mission in January. Additional MASS systems for Sweden's Göteborg- and Visby-class vessels will gradually be supplied through to 2008.
