Sorry, I was wrong. I just looked it up
HERE and the Egyptian MEKO A200s are supposedly going to be equipped with the 30mm DS30M Mark 2 Automated Small Caliber Gun and not the Phalanx.
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One of these will drop right into that square box platform you see circled in the pic of the top view of that awesome frigate and a 2nd one will go somewhere else, not sure where exactly, probably aft of the ship, but we know from that source that these frigates will be equipped with a pair of Seahawks each.
The DS30M Mark 2 system consists of a 30mm Mark 44 Bushmaster II[1] on a fully automated mount or via manual control[2] with an off-mount electro-optical director (EOD).[2] The gun and the EOD can be controlled from a remote operator console elsewhere on the ship. The weapon is a gyro-stabilized, electrically operated, self-contained, single cannon mount featuring a choice of weapon, control mode and sights. It has low magnetic, radar and Infrared signatures with good availability, reliability and maintainability (ARM).[1] In theory, the dual feed system of the Bushmaster series allows the operator to select different types of ammunition for use against a variety of targets.
- 1 × Oto Melara 127/64 LW 127 mm main gun (possibly with VULCANO ammunition)
- 2 × MSI 30 mm guns (possibly SEAHAWK A2 model)
- 16× MM-40 Exocet block 3 anti-ship missiles
- 32 × VLS for MBDA MICA-NG VL surface to air missiles
- 2 × MU90 torpedo launchers
- 4 × Rheinmetall MASS decoy launchers
- 2 × WASS/Finmeccanica MORPHEUS acoustic countermeasures launching systems (on each side of the VLS cells. Navy Recognition originally though these were SAGEM NGDS decoy launchers, but a TKMS representative confirmed this actually is a WASS system
The MSI-DS SEAHAWK DS A2 gun system couples the world renowned MSI-DS SEAHAWK gun mounting to a state-of-the-art electro optical gunfire control system.
An off-mount Electro Optical Director maximizes accuracy whilst providing enhanced 360° situational awareness. The advanced gun fire control system features both video auto tracker and a continuous lead angle predictor.
Capable of engaging multiple types of surface and air threats the MSI-DS SEAHAWK DS A2 system is optimized for combating small boat swarm attacks with highly accurate and precise gunfire.
The high system accuracy and embedded evidential video recorder is also ideally suited for policing and coastguard vessels operating in crowded waterways.
MSI-DS SEAHAWK DS A2 is suitable for installation on all vessels from 30m in length.
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Source.
I'd like to get one of those for my 30ft bowrider lol!
That pretty much answers that question since the Seahawk isn't one of the two options that TKMS offers, one being the Phalanx and the other is the Swiss Sea Zenith which is used on your Turkish MEKO 200TNs. Hence the empty platform as they will most likely be installed at the Alexandria shipyard.
They made the same decision on the Mistrals, where they didn't chose the French CIWS offered on the carriers because they were originally built for Russia which was going to install its own system, probably the Pantsir M. The mistrals, which arrived in Egypt in 2015 IIRC still don't have their CIWS for some reason. They're operating a pair of HUMVEE-mounted Avenger systems as you probably know and haven't been in a hurry at all to equip those ships, most likely because they never really venture anywhere without at least an accompanying escort ship like the Ambassador MK and others.
The Ambassadors, Oliver Hazzard Perry & Knox Class ships all operate the Phalanx CWIS for obvious "American" reasons.
Ambassador MK with its very obvious and well-positioned Phalanx for escort & support of larger ships.
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The French FREMM Tahya Misr as well as the 4 Gowind Corvettes operate a pair of
Nexter 20 mm Narwhal
remote weapon systems each.
The 6 Bergamini FREMMs will be equipped with a pair of SITEP MASS CS-424 acoustic guns each.
Wow, 4 or 5 of them they must've been up to something serious with a group like that.
Are they all the desert camo ones now or do they still operate the white-colored ones with the red stripes? They're probably going to retire a few of the older ones once the brand news ones start arriving.