HTMS ''Naresuan'' (FFG-421) (), commissioned in 1995, is a modified version of the Chinese-made

Type 053 frigate The Type 053 is a family of People's Republic of China, Chinese frigates that served with the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force, and a small number of foreign navies. Nomenclature for Chinese warships was temporarily changed during the ...

, corporately designed between

Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy (Abbreviation, Abrv: RTN, ทร.; , ) is the Navy, naval warfare force of Thailand. Established in 1906, it was modernised by the Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse (1880–1923) who is known as the father of the Royal N ...

and China but built by the

China State Shipbuilding Corporation The China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) is a state-owned shipbuilding conglomerate of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Background CSSC is one of the top 10 defence groups in the PRC. It consists of various shipyards, equip ...

in Shanghai. Her sister ship, was delivered in November 1995. The ships cost 2 billion baht each. The Royal Thai Navy complained of the poor quality of the ships. The ship's damage control system was very limited, with very basic fire suppression systems. It was claimed that if the ship's hull was breached, the ship would quickly be lost to flooding. The Thai Navy had to spend considerable time and effort to correct some of these issues.

Upgrade

On 3 June 2011,

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab AB, a Swedish aircraft, aerospace and defence company, still known as SAAB, and together with subsidiaries as Saab Group ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab ...

announced that it had been awarded a contract for the upgrading of the two ''Naresuan''-class frigates. The scope of the upgrade included Saab's

9LV 9LV is a naval combat management system (CMS) from the Swedish company Saab Group, Saab. The 9LV was established when Philips Teleindustri AB (1975 renamed Philips Elektronikindustrier AB), a subsidiary of Philips of the Netherlands, was selected ...

MK4 combat management system, Sea Giraffe AMB, CEROS 200 fire control radar, EOS 500 electro-optics system and data link systems for communications with the newly acquired

Royal Thai Air Force The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) (; ) is the air force of the Kingdom of Thailand. Since its establishment in 1913 as one of the earliest air forces of Asia, the Royal Thai Air Force has engaged in numerous major and minor conflicts. During the ...

Erieye The Erieye radar system is an Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&C) developed by Saab Electronic Defence Systems, formerly Ericsson Microwave Systems, of Sweden. It uses active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology. The Er ...

surveillance aircraft. On 8 August 2012, DSCA announced Thailand's intention to acquire the

Evolved Sea Sparrow 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 ...

(ESSM) missile and associated equipment to upgrade the frigates and a Letter of Offer and Acceptance was signed with Raytheon on 14 January 2013.

Service history

On 30 August 2015, the ESSM was fired from ''Naresuan'' during Exercise CARAT 2015. During a network centric exercise of the

in March 2021 networked data links were established between

Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen ( ; English: ''Griffin'') is a light single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with rela ...

fighters and ''Naresuan'', and for the first time. On 23 May 2022, ''Naresuan'', , a Type 053HT

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

, and , a sister ship to ''Bangpakong'', participated in the 28th Annual CARAT exercise with the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

7th Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of th ...

References

Ships built in China Naresuan-class frigates 1993 ships {{Thailand-stub