The Bulgarian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has received approval from The Council of Ministers for the purchase of two new modular patrol ships OPV (Offshore Patrol Vessel) types from the German company Lürssen.
An OPV (Offshore Patrol Vessel) is a patrol boat typically smaller in size than a corvette and can include fast attack craft, torpedo boats and missile boats, although some are as large as a frigate. The offshore patrol vessels are usually the smallest ship in a navy’s fleet that is large and seaworthy enough to patrol off-shore in the open ocean.
Lürssen has developed three types of OPVs including OPV 80, 85, 90. The OPV 90 can be armed with one 76mm naval gun, 4 x MM40 EXOCET or 4 x RBS 15 Mk3 or 4 x NSM anti-ship missiles, 1 VLS Mk56 or RIM-116 RAM air defense missile system, two Decoy (e.g. MASS or SWKS), two Remote Controlled 20mm automatic cannon and two .50 M2HB Machine Guns.