According to information published by Defense News on January 5, 2023, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has offered the naval variant of the Barak MX to Colombia to equip the future five frigates of the PES program.
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Model of the Damen Sigma 10514 frigate. (Picture source: Navy Recognition)
With the PES program, Colombia seeks to have strategic autonomy and deterrent, credible and sustainable capabilities for the defense of Colombian sovereign maritime spaces, justifying the above in the modernization of the current surface fleet, composed of four FS1500 light frigates and two missile corvettes, donated by South Korea.
Based then on the Strategic Plan of the Defense and Security Sector (2018-2022) and the Strategic Military and Transformation Plan (PEMT) 2042, the ARC and Cotecmar, refine the process for the subscription of an agreement through which it is achieved "to maintain an adequate regional balance", building for such purposes five new Strategic Surface Platforms (PES).
On September 27, 2022, the Colombian Ministry of Defense announced that Damen will be the technological partner in the design and construction process, in collaboration with the local shipyard Cotecmar, of the five frigates of the Colombian Navy.
The base design for the vessels will be Damen's Sigma 10514. Negotiations will now focus on agreeing on a price per unit not exceeding US$400,000,000. In addition, Colombia wants to increase the tonnage of the starting model to between 2,800 and 2,900 tons.
The new vessels would have an integrated mast, with a 76/62 millimeter main gun, with ship-launched sea-skimming surface-to-surface anti-ship cruise missiles (SSM-700K HAE SUNG-I), medium-range air defense systems
They will have a reduced crew, ranging from 4,000 to 7,000 nautical miles, with a range of approximately 30 days and speeds of 27 to 30 knots, provided by a twin-engine hybrid propulsion system.
