Legate Dralson, ex-Dino Army and Security CouncilLast week i had a very interesting meeting with Group Leader Jelika, a senior member of the Sirikwan Defence Force who was on Dino-Land for DTA related meetings. We discussed plans for Sirikwan's fleet which was already in the middle of a multi-year investment programme now it is part of the DTA's overall military strength.
Sirikwan is in an interesting position, although much weaker than the Dinos they are easily the second biggest military in the DTA and are keen to improve their already reasonable fleet. Key to their plans are their 6 Helwin patrol ships which will soon be upgraded and life extended by the DDS to give them another 10 years of service on top of their remaining hull life. The aim is to replace the Helwins by 2126 and hence the Sirikwanese have recently formulated a fleet plan for the next 15 years based around that.
The next couple of years will see the 3 Reliwan (Vortis) frigates withdrawn from service and replaced by new Pentekonter-Es. The Sirikwanese will have a fleet of 10 of these ships by 2115 which will form the backbone of their patrol fleet with the Helwin as their combat fleet (supported by the Pentekonters).
The Sirikwanese will also begin to build up a sizeable Dinomark XT fleet, by the end of the decade having over 10 in service and likely quite a few more. Informally i have been told the Sirikwanese want 20-25 in service eventually.
Supporting these ships will be a force of Ferret-UCVs. Sirikwan currently have over 50 of these drones and aim to have over 120 by 2113. They are likely to have several Olympus-E carriers though their forthcoming Multi-role Combat Support ships (also based on the Friendship/River platform) will also be able to support UCV operations.
So by 2120 the Sirikwanese will have a fleet of 16 combat ships, 4-5 carriers with drones and a sizable fleet of XTs, all in all the Sirikwanese will have a fleet that easily ranks among the top of the medium powers. But one question will remain : what will replace the Helwins?
The Sirikwanese will be looking to buying 5-6 powerful medium sized combat ships by the mid-2120s. The Dinos do not generally build ships like this and the Sirikwanese themselves are unlikely to design and build their own design. I suspect something like the DDS' Corkscrew could be perfect for the Sirikwanese, by the 2120s it will be a mature design and with a core of these ships plus their Pentekonters the Sirikwanese will continue to be able to provide a powerful force of ships to support DTA activities.
