ARC Almirante Padilla Class: FS-1500 Project (FM-51) Colombian Sea Wolves

[GranColombia]

ALMIRANTE PADILLA CLASS: Colombian Naval Power

The Almirante Padilla class is a series of four missile frigates that form the main defense force of the Colombian Navy (ARC). This suggestion proposes the ARC Almirante Padilla, which gives its name to the class and is the flagship of the four.

• FM-51 Almirante Padilla (Lobos de Mar)
• FM-52 Caldas (La Poderosa)
• FM-53 Antioquia (Nido de Águilas)
• FM-54 Independiente (Brig Barca)

ARC ALMIRANTE PADILLA (FM-51)

Acquired under the “Plan Neptuno” (Neptune Plane) and commissioned in 1983, it was built at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipyards in Kiel, Germany. Based on the FS-1500 hull, it were refitted and adapted for warfare, meeting the defensive needs of the Colombian Navy (ARC) in the Colombian seas.

HISTORY: PLAN ORION (ORION PLANE)

Spoiler

In 1980, a contract was signed between Colombia and the German company Ferrostaal (HDW’s representative) for the acquisition of four corvettes and two helicopters. They were named after Admiral José Prudencio Padilla López, a naval hero in Colombian history who sealed the victory and independence against the Spanish empire in the Battle of Lake Maracaibo in 1823.The Almirante Padilla class began as missile corvettes, which were fully delivered to the country by the end of 1984. These corvettes were part of “Plan Neptuno,” which modernized the Colombian Navy (ARC), and represented the first acquisition of ships with anti-surface missile capabilities, which were already being acquired in the region.

The following are the weapons and sensor systems they had while they were corvettes:
Almirante Padilla Class Corvett:
Armament:
Missiles Exocet MM-40 Block 1
Main Cannon: 1 OTO Melara 76/62
Auxiliary Cannon: Boffors 40mm/L70
2 x 3 ILAS 3 torpedo tubes
CSEE Dagaie Mk2
Sensors:
Radar: TSR-3004 Sea Tiger
Combat System: Vega II
Fire Control:
Castor 2B (Main cannon)
Canopus (Auxiliary Cannon)
ESM: DR3000
Naval Heli: Bolkow BO-105
In 1987, a situation arose with neighboring Venezuela involving two Colombian corvettes (ARC Caldas and ARC Independiente) due to maritime boundary issues in the Caribbean Sea. The crisis was resolved at the last minute through diplomatic mediation a few days later.

In 2010, a modernization plan for the Colombian Navy (ARC) called “Plan Orion” was initiated, which included, among other actions, the modernization of the corvettes carried out at the Colombian national shipyards (COTECMAR). This action modernized all the components of armament, sensors, navigation and communications of the 4 corvettes for these upgrades, the ARC selected companies such as Thales from France, Terma from Denmark, as well as Leonardo from Italy, the South Korean company LIG Defense & Aerospace, among others, resulting in a change of capability that gave them the designation of Frigates within the ARC (globally they are considered as Light Frigates).

Throughout their service, the Colombian frigates have participated in national and international exercises (UNITAS, PANAMAX, among others) and joint operations with NATO (for example, the ARC Almirante Padilla was deployed to combat piracy in the Red Sea). Currently, the Almirante Padilla-class frigates defend Colombia’s territorial waters and will be replaced by new, domestically built frigates.

SPECIFICATIONS

Shipyard: HDW, Kiel.
Type: Missile Frigate.
Class: Almirante Padilla - FS 1500
Built: 1980
Launched: 1982
Commissioned: 1983
Length: 95,30 m
Beam: 11,30 m
Draft: 3,40 m
Displacement: 2300 ton
Crew: 95
Movility:
Propulsion: 4 Engines Diesel MTU M-93 Series 4000
Speed: 27 Knots (50 km/h)
Autonomy: 8000 miles

SYSTEMS

Radar: Smart-S Mk2 (THALES)
Combat System: Tácticos
Fire Control Systems:

• Sting-EO Mk2 (Main Cannon)
• Mirador (AA Cannons and Missiles)

RESM (Radar Electronic Support Measures) System: Vigile LW
Decoy Countermeasures System: SKWS DL-12T (TERMA)
Sonar: Atlas Elektronik ASO 4-2
Communications and Navigation Systems:

• Datalink (Link-CO)
• Inmarsat (International Maritime Satellite)
• GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System)
• WECDIS Master Electronic Letter
• GPS
• AIS

ARMAMENT

Main Cannon: 1 OTO Melara Strales 76/62 with DART precision guided munition.
Anti-Air Defence:

• 4 SAM MBDA Mistral Simbad Mk3 (5 km)
• 1 Double Breda 40mm/70 Mount

Surface-to-Surface Missiles: 8 Anti-Ship missile SSM-700K C-Star HaeSeong (180 km)
Anti-submarine Warfare: 2 triple Mk-32 torpedo launchers (B515/3) AD44/S ligth torpedo.
Hangar helipad: Naval helicopter (Eurocopter AS-555 SN Fennec)

Almirante Padilla-Class in War Thunder:
This frigate is unique in the world; Colombia is the only operator of the FS-1500 type, and it would greatly enrich the game for naval battle modes, thanks for reading this suggestion.

IMAGES

Spoiler

SOURCES

Spoiler

Armada de Colombia
https://www.armada.mil.co/es/content/armada-nacional-completa-la-repotenciación-de-sus-fragatas-misileras
https://www.armada.mil.co/es/content/fragata-arc-almirante-padilla-arriba-cartagena-tras-participar-en-rimpac-2014

Webinfomil
Modernización de las Fragatas Ligeras Almirante Padilla: Nuevas Capacidades Para la Flotilla. - Webinfomil

Defensa
Fragatas FS-1500, 40 años al servicio de la Armada de Colombia - Noticias Defensa En abierto
Armada de Colombia lanza misil antibuque SSM-700E C-Star - Noticias Defensa defensa.com Colombia

Infodefensa
Lanzamiento de un misil Mistral desde una fragata - Noticias Defensa defensa.com Colombia

Would you like to see this in-game?

• Yes
• No

[CharAznable3]

Could be given to Germany as that is where they where birthed. Anyway when we get missile ships these boats will be more then effective. She should also get a heli for you to be able to go off and try to sink a sub or something.

+1 for future missile ships

[GranColombia]

Oh bro, please don’t separate her from her family (Colombian flag). Hopefully, she’ll help strengthen the future Israeli naval force like a event/premium/squadron ship.

[CharAznable3]

lol!

She was born in Kiel but o well.

Still think its the best out come…
ya right…
maybe no?

[GranColombia]

It’s possible, personally I’d like it in the Israeli naval TT, but what I’d like most is for it to be added to the game.

[CharAznable3]

Its a small missile sloop what evil could it do to the game?

Anyway when we get more modern ships Gaijin is going to have to rebalance top tier. Heavy battle ships can likely eat all SSM-700K C-Star HaeSeong missiles but magazine depth is limited. But with soviet ani ship missiles they can handles heavy ships while being way out of range. Also AI gunners should try to handle incoming missiles some are very slow even WW2 can track them.

We will likely need a way to re order naval as it has issues like ticket bleed and cap points wont work for missile ships. Cap points stop working with old gun cruisers let alone more modern stuff. Should be more or less protect a convoy on a very large map from destruction and who destroys the convoy first wins.

Overall modern naval should be more of command and control you picking and choosing targets and letting AI handle them.

[GranColombia]

Ah bro, regarding the issue of modern ships versus WWII ships, that’s a big debate in another thread, but I support the idea of ​​separating them into different battles. The ARC Almirante Padilla could be interesting in those kinds of battles; obviously, it wouldn’t be top tier in the case of modern ships, but the C-Star missiles are decent for a long-range battle, in addition to all the technology the frigate has for self-defense, and the Strales cannon also serves as missile defense. In fact, the technology of modern ships should be the main reason why they have their own different combat scenarios from older ships.