Multifunctional Support Ship

Ship design project of the Royal Netherlands Navy

Class overview
Impression of the MSS concept
Name	Multifunctional Support Ships (MSS)
Builders	Damen Group
Operators	Royal Netherlands Navy
Cost	€250 million to €1 billion (for 2 units)
In commission	2026 onwards (planned)
Planned	2
General characteristics
Type	Missile Carrier / Signals intelligence gathering vessel
Length	53.20 m (174.5 ft)
Beam	9.80 m (32.2 ft)
Draught	3.50 m (11.5 ft)
Speed	27 kn (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	1× rigid-hull inflatable boats
Complement	8
Armament	Fixed armament 1x remote weapon system 2x .50 caliber heavy machine guns Modular armament 4x containerized 6-cell Barak-ER systems IAI Harop loitering munition Containerized ECM/ESM
Notes	Measurements based on the FSC 5009.

The Multifunctional Support Ship (MSS), also known as the MSS (formerly TRIFIC & MICAN) is a project of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN, Dutch: Koninklijke Marine). it was announced on 23 November 2022 by Captain (E) Paul Flos, head of maritime systems at DMO. On 24 September 2024 an announcement was made by State Secretary for Defence Gijs Tuinman that two ships will be procured from the Damen Group. Both ships should be in service by 2027.

History

On 23 November 2022 it was revealed that the Dutch navy was investigating the possibility of purchasing four commercially available offshore supply type vessels and use these as missile carriers. This program, when first announced, was known as The Rapidly Increased Firepower Capability (TRIFIC) and involved ships that would operate with a very small crew. The TRIFIC-vessels can carry up to six container units with eight or more vertical launch cells (depending on missile size) in each container. One or more of these ships would accompany another vessel like a frigate or an OPV and use the guiding systems and radars of these ships to attack targets.

In December 2023 the revised TRIFIC concept was announced as MICAN. It was also revealed that instead of four ships, two were initially planned.

On 24 September 2024 State Secretary for Defence Gijs Tuinman gave an update on the MICAN-program, which was now named the Multifunctional Support Ship (MSS). He also announced the procurement for two ships.

Concept evolution

TRIFIC concept

The Rapidly Increased Firepower Capability Royal Netherlands Navy (TRIFIC) ships were envisioned to stay close (around 5 nmi (9.3 km)) to a mother ship and give extra missile capability. The ship would rely on the radars, missile guidance and defence from an external source like the Future Air Defender, De Zeven Provinciën class, Holland class or the ASW frigate acting as mother ship.

Stage 1

The first stage of the TRIFIC-program was to develop a ship with a low crew. The ship would be around 60 m (200 ft) to 70 m (230 ft) and based on a commercially available offshore supply vessel. Crew was required on these ships to keep a man-in-the-loop to actually fire the missiles.

Stage 2

In stage two it was planned for the ships to sail themselves, with a minimal crew to keep a man-in-the-loop.

Stage 3

In stage three the ships would be fully autonomous accompanying the mother ships.

Armament

Missiles

DMO has spoken to several countries, including Israel, America and France to supply an array of missiles in the short term. The type of missiles is not limited to Surface-to-air or cruise missiles. Also the possibility to equip the ships with loitering munition is being investigated.

Countermeasure

Being very modular by design it, is also possible to load units with a soft kill capability, for example electronic warfare units.

MICAN concept

The Modular Integrated Capability for ACDF and North Sea (MICAN) concept was announced in December 2023 as a revised plan from the original TRIFIC concept. The plan still involves buying COTS offshore supply vessels, but instead of four, two ships are planned. Also the mission of the concept has changed, from solely being used as a missile carrier, to being able to carry sensors and systems to investigate (potential) threats on the North Sea. This task was added in response to a Russian spy ship, the Admiral Vladimirsky, that was seen in the Dutch EEZ on multiple occasions. The new mission is to monitor such vessels and see what they are up to below the surface.

Payload

Payloads that are being considered are:

Containerized VLS with SAM
Containerized SSM
Loitering munition
Containerized ECM/ESM