NS has relaunched the best selling Pentekonter Protector patrol ship line with the new fuel efficient Proton RM-01 engine - which is expected to be cleared for service in September. The 1xx series low-end Pentekonter has been dropped with NS now concentrating on the 2xx mid-end and 3xx high-end series, both will have standard and e-Core variants - the latter with the new engine which has up to 20% savings in fuel. For smaller nations such a saving will be very attractive. A MCM version of the 260 will be available to replace the 150M.
The new line-up is as follows:
Pentekonter Protector 360 & 360 e-Core : TPM-VLS, Z6t, UCV support, IWC, passive sensors
Pentekonter Protector 260 & 260 e-Core : QPM, Z5m, IWC
Pentekonter Protector 261M & 261M e-Core : As 260 with mine-warfare module
