Spanish shipbuilder Navantia has entered into an agreement for the repair and modernisation of two Mandume-class patrol vessels operated by the Angolan Navy.
The agreement was made with Simportex, the Angolan state-owned company that handles procurement for the Angolan Ministry of Defence.
The work on the patrol vessels Golfinho and Atlântico will be carried out at Navantia's San Fernando shipyard in Cádiz. Both vessels were built in the early 1990s by Empresa Nacional Bazán, the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder that is now Navantia.
The company said the contract also includes training in Spain for a number of Angolan Navy personnel. The navy will also receive knowledge transfer and life cycle support for two years, enabling it to maintain the vessels in Angola.
Navantia placed the order within its repairs and services business area, citing Africa as a market, "where commercial efforts are being made to support navies in modernising their existing ships."
In February 2023, The Diplomat reported that Angola was considering a wider package from Navantia.
That package comprised up to six new patrol vessels alongside the modernisation of two of the four vessels Bazán supplied in the 1990s.
Navantia sources said at the time that the agreement was not closed and depended on financing.
