The Brazilian Navy wants to improve the radar capabilities of its OPVs. (Victor Barreira)

As part of an effort to update its Amazonas-class offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), the Brazilian Navy is acquiring a new air and surface search radar with identification friend-or-foe capability (IFF), according to the Navy Weapon Systems Directorate (Diretoria de Sistemas de Armas da Marinha: DSAM).

The Brazilian Naval Commission in Washington, DC, (Comissão Naval Brasileira em Washington: CNBW) on behalf of the DSAM has requested a request for information (RFI) and the price availability for up to three radars on 25 March.

The navy seeks to recover the combat capability of the OPVs by updating several of the ship's systems, the Navy Directorate-General for Material (Diretoria-Geral do Material da Marinha: DGMM) recently told Janes .

The modernisation of the OPVs will be carried out by the DSAM, the DGMM added, without detailing a schedule and the scale of the effort.

The DSAM is subordinated to the DGMM.

Cayor , the third and final OPV 58S, was formally handed over to Senegal during a ceremony in Concarneau on 16 April. (Senegalese Navy)

French shipbuilder Piriou has delivered the final missile-armed Walo (OPV 58 S)-class offshore patrol ship to Senegal, completing the three-ship programme.

The last vessel in the class, named Cayor, was formally handed over during a ceremony held in Concarneau, France, on 16 April, the shipbuilder confirmed the same day.

According to Piriou, the shipbuilding programme was completed on time and “mobilised hundreds of employees for four years and represented more than 600,000 hours of work”.

Piriou built and delivered the three OPV 58 S ships under a contract signed with the Ministry of the Armed Forces of Senegal in November 2019. The construction programme was carried out with the support of Kership, the joint venture founded by Piriou and Naval Group in 2013.

MdCN is launched from the FREMM frigate Aquitaine on 18 April. (French Navy)

The French Navy has successfully conducted its first simultaneous test launch of the Missile de Croisière Navale (MdCN)naval cruise missile from a frigate and a submarine.

The test-firing was carried out by the service's lead multimission (FREMM) frigate Aquitaine, positioned off the coast of Brittany, and one of its Suffren (Barracuda)-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs), located off the coast of Biscarrosse, on 18 April, the Ministry of Armed Forces of France confirmed the same day.

During the test the two vessels launched a co-ordinated strike against a ground target located at the DGA's Biscarrosse missile test centre at Landes in southwestern France – with both missiles engaging their target “in perfect synchronisation”, the Ministry of Armed Forces of France said.

In a statement issued the same day the French Navy said the test was carried out in operational conditions to strengthen the operational know-how and combat skills of the service.