Bradbeer, NIC; Andrews, DJA; (2010) Vulnerability of a low-cost combatant converted from a commercial ship. In: 10th International naval engineering conference and exhibition (INEC 2010): the affordable future fleet. (pp. pp. 548-561). Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST): London, UK.

Text INEC2010 BradbeerAndrews.pdf - Published Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (1MB)

Abstract

This paper describes a vulnerability study comparing two patrol combatants; one corvette designed in a conventional military style and one cost-expedient conversion of an off-the-shelf Platform Supply Vessel (PSV). Both ships were designed to carry the same payload and perform the same role. The Unit Procurement Cost (UPC) and annual fuel cost were estimated for each ship. A comparative study was then conducted which examined the vulnerability of each of five top-level functional systems in each design to attack by a series of generic threat weapons, ranging from shoulder-fired rockets to very large anti-ship missiles (ASM), considering damage by kinetic impact, blast and fragmentation. The results demonstrated that the converted PSV exhibited considerably better system vulnerability. The authors attribute the system vulnerability result as being primarily due to the much larger size and high void space fraction of the PSV, compared to the Corvette. It is likely that the Corvette may exhibit significantly better susceptibility and recoverability characteristics than the PSV, due to a combination of lower signatures, reduced size and better distributed damage control equipment.

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