Editing Valour-class frigate (section)

== Development ==
The concept for the Valour class (Project Sitron) was first conceived in the late 1990s as part of the [[South African Arms Deal|Strategic Defence Package]], in which the new South African ANC government was keen to modernise the armed forces after decades of apartheid-era [[South African sanctions|United Nations sanctions]]. Since the 1970s, previous attempts to replace the aging [[Rothesay-class frigate|Type-12 (President class)]] frigates, as well as the [[W and Z-class destroyer|'W' (Jan van Riebeeck) class]] destroyers, had repeatedly been aborted due to sanctions, strategic considerations and financial cost.<ref name=":2" /> The [[Carnation Revolution|Portuguese Carnation Revolution]] of 1974 axed efforts to acquire four [[João Coutinho-class corvette|João Coutinho-class]] corvettes (Project Taurus), and the delivery of three [[Drummond-class corvette|Type-69A]] light corvettes and two{{sclass|Agosta|submarine|0}} submarines from France was cancelled at the last minute after the imposition of mandatory UN sanctions in 1977.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wessels|first=Andre|date=2006-12-01|title=The South African Navy during the years of conflict in southern Africa, 1966-1989|url=https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/EJC28400|journal=Journal for Contemporary History|volume=31|issue=3|pages=283–303|hdl=10520/EJC28400 }}</ref> Following from the successful experience of constructing [[SAS Drakensberg|SAS ''Drakensberg'']] in 1987, it was briefly considered that a class of frigates could be locally constructed at the same shipyard. However, an increasingly deteriorating security and financial situation by the late 1980s within South Africa put an end to the project. As the final Type-12 frigate was retired without replacement in 1985, the intensifying [[South African Border War|Border War]] forced the navy to shift operational focus away from the regional capabilities of large surface units to a purely localised coastal force, with a new core of [[Patrol boat|offshore patrol vessels]] and [[mine hunter]]s. As white minority rule came to a negotiated end by 1994, the Navy had lost all its major surface warships and suffered from a critical lack of [[Anti-submarine warfare|anti-submarine]] and [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-air]] capability, operating nine increasingly obsolete strike craft OPVs and three aged diesel electric submarines.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Hill|first=Liezel|title=SA navy to have all new corvettes and submarines by 2007|url=https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/sa-navy-to-have-all-new-corvettes-and-submarines-by-2007-2005-11-23/rep_id:4136|access-date=2021-10-14|website=www.engineeringnews.co.za|language=en}}</ref>

The Spanish frigate design, the ''[[Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate|Álvaro de Bazán]]'' class topped an acquisition effort in 1995 under Project Falcon, however this was later cancelled in favour of the wider Strategic Defence Package.

In 1999, an initial tender of five general purpose warships that could negotiate the tough sea conditions off the South African coast was met with four designs being proposed by the United Kingdom ([[GEC F3000]]), Germany ([[MEKO 200|MEKO A200]]), France ({{sclass|La Fayette|frigate|5}}) and Spain ([[Bazan 59B]]). The ANC Government was keen that the newly democratic South Africa would play a leading role in African peacekeeping missions, and as such required a naval force that had regional capability. The winning design had to be able to conduct sustained operations at sea - potentially far from a home port, provide gunfire and transport support to land forces, have helicopter capacity, and undertake a range of general offensive and defensive missions, as well as regular maritime patrols on behalf of law enforcement.<ref name=":1" />

On 3 December 1999, a contract was signed with the European South African Corvette Consortium (ESACC) to provide four warships based on the German MEKO 200 design bid. ESACC consisted of [[Blohm+Voss]], [[Thyssen Rheinstahl]] and [[Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft|Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft]], [[African Defence Systems]] (part of the [[Thales Group|French Thales]] defence group) and a number of South African companies. Originally termed corvettes for political reasons by the South African Navy, the Valour class design, officially the MEKO A200SAN, represented a quantum leap in multi-purpose capability, with a final procurement cost of R9.65 billion in 2007.

=== Construction ===
Construction began on the Valour class when the first steel was cut on 6 August 2001 for {{ship|SAS|Amatola}} at the [[Blohm+Voss]] shipyards in [[Hamburg]], Germany. {{ship|SAS|Spioenkop}} was also assembled here. {{ship|SAS|Isandlwana}} and {{ship|SAS|Mendi}} were constructed separately at the Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft shipyards in [[Kiel]]. All four frigates were first laid down between August 2001 and June 2002, launched by October 2003 and later delivered to South Africa by the end of 2004. The delivery programme was delayed by up to nine months after the discovery of defects in installed electrical cabling in the [[lead ship]] SAS ''Amatola''. Further delays were not incurred to the programme as the electrical cabling at fault had not yet been fitted to the subsequent frigates. The majority of the combat suite, weapons and sensors were designed and built by South African companies, with the integration process taking between 2–3 years per ship in South Africa. Final commissioning into service was achieved by 2007 for all four vessels.