Frigates Fill The Maritime Gap

While the budget for large capital ships is hard to find in the Asia-Pacific region, the market for cheaper ‘workhorse’ frigates and corvettes is growing.

- Tim Fish

Frigate and corvette shipbuilding programs in the Asia-Pacific region are moving at different paces across the various sub-regions. There is a mix of countries that have their own naval manufacturing base and are building their own surface combatants and others that either buys ships from abroad or are attempting to develop the capacity of their own shipyards. The scale with which frigates and corvettes are being built and the capability that these ships have reflects the better share of budgets that navies are attracting.

The maritime threats to the Asia-Pacific are increasing. A spokesperson from French shipbuilder Naval Group told AMR: “In the Asia Pacific region, the navies are facing both traditional threats (other navies, missiles…) but also a resurgence of asymmetric threats (mine warfare, piracy, cyber threat…).” The rapid expansion of China’s

People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has been the catalyst for a number of frigate and corvette programs. Dr Collin Koh Swee Lean, from the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore told AMR that although the PLAN has grown it has focussed on larger ships like the Type 055 destroyer, aircraft carriers and submarines rather building large numbers of frigates and corvettes “because the PLAN does not have infinite funding so has to prioritize.”