HMS Visby, the Swedish Navy’s lead Visby class corvette, has successfully test fired an RBS15 anti-ship missile for the first time, marking the last important milestone before becoming fully operational.
Designed by Försvarets materielverk, the Swedish Defence Procurement Agency, for mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare, and built by Kockums at Karlskrona, the corvette programme has encountered a five-year delay during an exhaustive test and evaluation period.
The highly-sophisticated 72m carbon-fibre reinforced plastic vessels displace just 630 tonnes but are armed with eight RBS 15 Mk.II anti-ship missiles, a Bofors 57mm gun and four torpedo tubes for wire-guided active homing torpedoes. They are also equipped with an Atlas Seafox mine countermeasures system and a medium-sized helicopter deck.
