ARM ''Benito Juárez'' (POLA-101) is the
lead ship
The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels.
Large ships are very comple ...
of
''Reformador''-class frigate of the
Mexican Navy
The Mexican Navy () is one of the components of the Mexican Armed Forces. The Secretariat of the Navy is in charge of administration of the navy. The commander of the navy is the Secretary of the Navy, who is both a cabinet minister and a career ...
. Previously was named as ARM ''Reformador'' until March 2020, the ship is officially classified as "long-range ocean patrol ship" ().
Design and description
''Reformador'' has a length of , a beam of and draft of . The frigate has standard displacement of and is powered by combined diesel or electric (CODOE) type propulsion, consisted of two diesel engines, six diesel generators, and two electric motors connected to two propellers. She has a top speed of , range of with cruising speed of , and endurance up to 20 days. The ship has a complement of 122 personnel.
The ship are armed with one
Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70
The Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70 ( (''57 mm SAK 70'')), among other names, is a series of dual-purpose naval guns designed and produced by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors (since March 2005 part of BAE Systems AB), desi ...
Mark 3, two 25 mm
Rafael Typhoon Mk 38 Mod 2 remote-controlled weapon stations, and six 12.7 mm (.50 cal)
M2 Browning
The M2 machine gun or Browning .50-caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed near the end of World War I by John Browning. While similar to Browning's M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered ...
. For surface warfare, ''Reformador'' are equipped with four
RGM-84L Harpoon Block II anti-ship missile launchers, one
RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile
The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) is a small, lightweight, infrared homing surface-to-air missile in use by the German, Japanese, Greek, Turkish, South Korean, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Mexican, UAE, and United States navies. It wa ...
anti-aircraft missile launcher, and eight
RIM-162 ESSM
The RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) is a development of the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile used to protect ships from attacking missiles and aircraft. ESSM is designed to counter supersonic maneuvering anti-ship missiles. ESSM also has the ab ...
vertical launching system
A vertical launching system (VLS) is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of ''cells'', which can hold one or mo ...
cells. For anti-submarine warfare, she is equipped with two three-tube
Mark 32 torpedo tubes for
Mark 54 torpedo.
Her sensors and electronic systems consisted of Thales
SMART-S Mk2 air/surface surveillance radar, Raytheon Anschütz Synapsis navigation radar, one Thales Captas-2
towed sonar
A towed array sonar is a system of hydrophones towed behind a submarine or a surface ship on a cable. Trailing the hydrophones behind the vessel, on a cable that can be kilometers long, keeps the array's sensors away from the ship's own noise sou ...
, Thales TACTICOS combat management system and ERA Indra Rigel electronic warfare suite.
''Reformador'' also has a hangar and flight deck for helicopter. She can accommodate a
MH-60R Seahawk
The Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk (or Sea Hawk) is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission United States Navy helicopter based on the United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk and a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family. The most significant modificati ...
anti-submarine helicopter,
though in practice she usually carried an
AS565 Panther helicopter.
Construction and career
The ship was laid down on 17 August 2017 at
Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding
Damen Naval is a Dutch shipyard, and a continuation of the Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde, responsible for a number of ships used by the Royal Netherlands Navy. It is owned by the Damen Group. Damen Naval is situated in Vlissingen.
History
...
in
Vlissingen
Vlissingen (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an importan ...
, the Netherlands. Similar to the Indonesian
s built previously, the ship are built from six modules or sections. Two modules were built by Damen Naval in Vlissingen, with another four modules built at
Astillero de Marina Número 20 (ASTIMAR 20) in Mexico, which also assembled the modules and finished the ship. The two modules built in the Netherlands were transported to the Mexican shipyard for assembly.
The frigate was launched and officially named as ARM ''Reformador'' (POLA-101) on 23 November 2018 in a ceremony at ASTIMAR 20 in
Salina Cruz
Salina Cruz is a major seaport on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is the state's fourth-largest city and is the municipal seat of the Municipalities of Oaxaca, municipality of the sa ...
,
Oaxaca
Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
, coinciding with the
Mexican Navy Day. The ceremony was attended by the then-
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Enrique Peña Nieto
Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican former politician and lawyer who was the 64th president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he p ...
. ''Reformador'' was the first large warship to be built in Mexico in more than 80 years.
The ship completed sea trials in December 2019. ''Reformador'' was handed over to the Mexican Navy and commissioned on 6 February 2020 in a ceremony at ASTIMAR 20 in Salina Cruz.
The frigate was renamed to ARM ''Benito Juárez'' in March 2020, ordered by President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...
.
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
Video of Long Range Ocean Patrol Vessel (POLA) ARM Reformador from construction to sea trials by Damen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benito Juárez (101)
2018 ships
Ships built in Vlissingen
Ships built in Mexico
Frigates of the Mexican Navy