The Portuguese Navy is looking to commission the Multifunctional Naval Platform in 2026. (Victor Barreira)

The Portuguese Navy is poised to issue a tender to acquire a helicopter and unmanned systems mother ship for a maximum of EUR132 million (USD142 million) to meet its Pilar I project.

A tender by prior qualification for the design and construction of the Plataforma Naval Multifuncional (Multifunctional Naval Platform) is scheduled to be published in mid-June in the Portuguese Official Gazette and in the Official Journal of the European Union , Captain Jorge Manuel Mestre Domingos, project manager at the Portuguese Navy Ships Directorate, told Janes .

The acquisition of this non-combatant multi-purpose modular ship will be funded by the European Union's (EU's) Recovery and Resilience Plan (also known as NextGenerationEU), he added.

The commissioning of the ship is scheduled to take place in 2026.

The ship is designed to be configured according to the mission set, and will principally undertake offshore surveillance, research and survey, aviation, disaster relief, and humanitarian aid missions.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has displayed a model of a Multi-Role Support Ship that it is proposing to meet requirements within the Royal Malaysian Navy. (Janes/Nishant Kumar)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) unveiled a model of its new Multi-Role Support Ship (MRSS) at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) Exhibition 2023.

An MHI spokesperson told Janes that work on the design of the new MRSS was initiated two to three years ago. However, the spokesperson said the design is not yet finalised and may change based on navies' requirements.

MHI's MRSS is positioned to meet requirements in the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) and other regional navies. MHI said it is interested in participating in the RMN's MRSS programme but is waiting for the release of a request for information (RFI) or tender.

MHI's MRSS is a transport ship that can be used for various purposes including logistical deployment forhumanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR).

The MRSS has an overall length of 160 m, a maximum breadth of 24 m, and a draft of 6 m. Propulsion is provided by two sets of diesel engines that enable a top speed of 20 kt.

Commander of the Republic of Singapore Navy's First Flotilla Colonel Ng Kok Yeng Daniel at Changi Naval Base alongside RSS Supreme – the ship he once served on. (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)

On 14 July 2012 the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) made history when two Harpoon anti-ship missiles flew from the weapons bay of first-of-class RSS Formidable . In the cross-hairs of these missiles was a decommissioned US Navy (USN) vessel moored in waters near Hawaii and both Harpoons struck their intended target within seconds of each other. It was the first known time on target (TOT) co-ordinated missile strike conducted by a Southeast Asian warship.

The time-sensitive missile strike, which took place during a USN-hosted ‘Rim of the Pacific' (‘RIMPAC') series of military exercises, is just one example of missions that the RSN is now capable of undertaking since commissioning its six Formidable-class frigates. The class, which derives its design from the French Navy's La Fayette-class frigates, was inducted between 2007 and 2009.