Offshore Patrol Vessel OPV 87 L Adroit becomes A.R.A. Bouchard of Argentina Navy.

The Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV 87) L’Adroit adopts the Argentinian flag and becomes the A.R.A. BOUCHARD. The first one of the four OPVs ordered by Argentina has been designed and developed by Naval Group on its own resources.

Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV 87) L’Adroit (Picture source Naval Group)

December 20, 2019, it was handed over to the Argentinian Navy two months ahead of schedule and after only ten months of upgrade and modernization works. The three other OPVs will be delivered from April 2021 at the pace of one unit every six months.

Since mid-February, Naval Group’s teams have carried out a major technical shutdown in order to maximize the potential of the ship for the Argentinian Navy and to adapt it to their needs. Major operations have been carried out notably to modify the combat system in order to make it compliant to the customer’s needs, to enhance the ship’s capacities by modifying the propulsion system, to increase its autonomy by reinforcing its freshwater production capacity and to equip the ship with a 30 mm gun.

The Argentinian Navy’s future crew also received specific navigation training from Naval Group’s team. Naval Group also provided associated logistical and documentary support. ”This project is a great pride for the Naval Group’ Services teams, who met the Argentinian Navy’s expectations.” explained Nathalie Smirnov, Naval Group Services Director. “The technical and industrial operations have been achieved ahead of time even though this program involved a complete overhaul of the platform rather than a traditional in service support operation.”

''We are very proud to deliver the first ship to the Argentinian navy ahead of schedule. This is another demonstration of Naval Group's commitment towards its customers and of its capability to respond to their operational needs "declared Alain Guillou Naval Group Senior Executive Vice President. “This is the beginning of a long-term relationship with the Argentinian navy" enhanced Olivier Michel, Vice President Sales Latin America.

The first ship delivery falls within the scope of the contract concluded with Argentina, which has chosen in February to equip its Navy with four Offshore Patrol Vessels OPV 87 including L’Adroit. Such ship was used by the French Navy (Marine Nationale) from 2011 to 2018, demonstrating the relevance and operational value of this new class of Offshore Patrol Vessels in theatres of operations.

L’Adroit is a Gowind Class offshore patrol vessel (OPV 87), which was designed and built by DCNS for the maritime safety and security (MSS) missions of the French Navy. The OPV 87 was launched in May 2011. It was constructed between May 2010 and June 2011 at Toulon naval base in France. It was officially christened in June 2011 and sea trials began in July 2011.

The OPV 87 is equipped with a 20 mm gun on the foredeck. It has an outreach of about 2 km and can be operated manually. It is also equipped with two 50 cal. machine guns. The two side wings of the ship can be equipped with two water guns of 200 m outreach each. The wings can also be fitted with small-caliber weapons raging between 500 m and 1 km and long-range acoustic devices. The front deck of the ship can host two double surface to surface missile ramps (SSM40).