ARA Bouchard (P-51)

ARA Bouchard (formerly L'Adroit) is a patrol vessel designed by the French company DCNS for maritime protection missions. She was originally part of the Gowind family of corvettes and patrol vessels but the less military members of the family like Bouchard have been moved into the Kership consortium. The design was self-funded by DCNS without an initial customer, and was initially leased to the French Navy as L'Adroit before being sold to the Argentine Navy in November 2018.[4] The vessel was commissioned as ARA Bouchard in December 2019.[5]

For other ships with the same name, see French ship L'Adroit and ARA Bouchard.
Offshore patrol ship Adroit, future Bouchard
Class overview
BuildersDCNS (now Kership)
Operators
BuiltMay 2010 – June 2011
In commission2012 – present
Planned4
Building1
Completed3
Active3
General characteristics
Class and typeGowind-class corvette
Displacement1,450 t (1,430 long tons) (full load)
Length87 m (285 ft 5 in)
Beam11 m (36 ft 1 in)
Draft3.3 m (10 ft 10 in)
Installed powerElectrical:
Propulsion2 Anglo Belgian Corporation V12 diesel engines, 5.6 MW (7,500 hp)
Speed21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range8,000 nmi (14,800 km; 9,200 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Endurance30 days
Boats & landing
craft carried		2 × 9 m (30 ft) RHIBs
Complement30 core crew, up to 29 troops
Sensors and
processing systems
  • DCNS Polaris combat management system
  • Terma Scanter 6002 I-Band surface search radar
  • Terma Scanter 4102 I-Band air and surface search radar
  • Sagem EOMS (Electro Optical Multisensor System) NG
  • Sagem SIGMA 40D Inertial measurement unit
  • LinkSrechts Helicopter visual landing aid system
Electronic warfare
& decoys
  • Thales Altesse & Vigile LW ESM/COMINT system
  • Lacroix Defense & Security Sylena decoy system
Armament
  • 1 × 30 mm Marlin cannon (installed December 2020)[1]
  • 2 × .50 cal. machine guns
Aircraft carried
  • 1 × 5-ton helicopter or 1 × 10-ton helicopter (supported)
  • RUAS-160 naval drone (one UAV to be acquired by the navy; possible delivery mid-2020s; further orders may follow)[2][3]
Aviation facilitiesHelicopter pad and hangar

Design

Bouchard has a 360° panoramic bridge and an integrated mast. The minimal superstructure of the ship leaves a substantial space available for air operations (helicopters, UAVs) and for launch and recovery of surface assets (RHIBs or USVs). Bouchard's missions are managed by a combat system, which supplies essential detailed information on the ship’s environment, acquired by various detectors, deployed sensors and other ships integrated into the surveillance network. The mission system can also include a maritime surveillance system capable of detecting suspicious course profiles automatically.

The vessel is capable of a variety of missions usually associated with offshore patrol of economic zones.

History

Placed at the disposal of the French Navy by DCNS for a period of three years, L'Adroit sailed from her home base on France's Mediterranean coast in May 2012 to conduct her first fishery policing and maritime security mission, including deployment for Operation Thon Rouge, monitoring fishing vessels with red tuna quotas for 2012.

Argentine service

L'Adroit was sold to the Argentine Navy in November 2018,[4] and was commissioned as ARA Bouchard in December 2019.[5] She is home based at Mar del Plata naval base.[6]

See also

References
  1. "La Armada Argentina instala un cañón Marlin 30 mm WS en el ARA Bouchard - Noticias Infodefensa América". 17 December 2020.
  2. "Armada Argentina encarga un dron naval RUAS-160 a INVAP". 15 December 2021.
  3. "RUAS-160: Así es el helicóptero no tripulado diseñado en la Argentina". 29 April 2020.
  4. "OPV argentins : le contrat de vente est signé". meretmarine.com (in French). 30 November 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  5. "Argentine Navy commissions ARA Bouchard OPV". Jane's. Jane's Group UK Limited. 10 December 2019. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  6. "Patrullero Oceánico ARA "Bouchard" (P-51)". Argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). 2020-01-16. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
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