MASS - Follow-on Order for Equipping Three more Frigates
26 June 2007
MASS PROTECTION SYSTEM INSTALLED ON GERMAN NAVY F123 FRIGATE
The German procurement authorities have contracted Rheinmetall Defence to supply three more Mass naval protection systems for German Navy frigates. By 2009, the F123-class frigates Brandenburg, Bayern and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will each be equipped with the four-launcher configuration of the MASS Multi Ammunition Softkill System. The order is worth a total of €6.4 million.
In December 2006, Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence had already contracted Rheinmetall to immediately equip the F123-class frigate Schleswig-Holstein with MASS technology prior to dispatching the ship to the Eastern Mediterranean as part of UNIFIL.
The successful performance of MASS in effectiveness tests have proved critical in securing these fast-track procurement orders. During the Sea Acceptance test, the German Navy put MASS through its paces on the high seas before accepting the state-of-the-art naval decoy system. MASS proved highly successful against radar, infrared and laser-guided missiles during towed flight trials.
Since the product's launch in 2003, Rheinmetall Defence has booked orders for MASS from the navies of seven nations – a total of 88 launchers for 12 different classes of vessels ranging in size from patrol boats to corvettes and frigates.
The navies of Germany (K130 corvettes), Finland (SQUADRON 2000), Norway (SKJOLD patrol boats), Sweden (Visby, Göteborg and Malmö-class vessels), the United Arab Emirates (Baynunah programme), Oman (Khareef-class vessels) as well as one other country in the Middle East have all successfully introduced MASS technology.
SUPERIOR NAVAL FORCE PROTECTION WITH MASS
Guided missiles pose an ever increasing threat to civilian and naval shipping. As recently as July 2006, C802 missiles sunk a freighter and seriously damaged a warship off the coast of Lebanon. Since 1967, some 250 such attacks on ships have been recorded worldwide.
MASS protects ships from attacks by advanced, sensor-guided missiles on the high seas and in coastal zones as well as from asymmetric threats. When the decoys are launched, they distract and seduce the missile's target seeking system.
Fully automatic, the Mass decoy system offers substantial tactical, operational and logistical advantages, and can be installed on ships of all types. It can be integrated into any command and control system, but also operated on a stand-alone basis. Programmable and omni-spectral, the system's innovative ammunition assures protection in all relevant wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum (UV, EO, laser, infrared and radar).
