Lithuania buys third Hunt-class MCMV from UK

Lithuania is acquiring a third ex-Royal Navy (RN) Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessel (MCMV), the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed.

HMS Quorn , which was decommissioned in December 2017, is being transferred under a sales package that will include the regeneration and upgrade of the vessel. The United Kingdom’s Defence Equipment Sales Authority (DESA), part of the MoD’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organisation, will contract for the regeneration and upgrade on behalf of the Lithuanian Defence Materiel Agency. The package is estimated to be worth between GBP40–50 million (USD50.4–63.3 million).

The Lithuanian Navy already operates two former RN Hunt-class MCMVs: Skalvis (ex-HMS Cottesmore ) and Kuršis (ex-HMS Dulverton ). Recommissioned in 2013, both ships were regenerated and upgraded by Thales UK as part of the sales agreement, receiving the Sonar 2193 hull-mounted wideband minehunting sonar and the M-Cube MCM command-and-control system.

According to DESA’s information notice, published on 27 April, the Lithuanian Navy “is looking to expand its fleet of Hunt-class [MCMVs] via procurement of a legacy hull from the Royal Navy and regeneration of said hull to an agreed operational state, closely aligned to the … Skalvis-class vessels currently in service with the [Lithuanian] Navy”. It continued, “The vessel will utilise the Sonar 2193 and the M-Cube Mine Countermeasure Management System. The scope of this project is for a single entity to deliver the regenerated vessel, with stated mission and sonar systems to an agreed operational condition.”