Ecuador’s Astinave starts maintenance work on the Ecuadorian corvette Loja

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Ecuadorian Naval Shipyards (Astinave) has announced that the corvette BAE Loja (CM-16) of Ecuador’s Navy has entered its facilities in the last week of May as part of the continuous maintenance process for naval units carried out by this company.

The works that have begun to be carried out include the repair of the variable pitch propulsion system lines, the revision of the steering systems, the application of a painting plan on the ship, and naval fairing.

JUPITER PROJECT

Together with BAE Manabí (CM-12) and BAE Los Ríos (CM-13), this corvette was modernized by Astinave in a process that took place from 2014 to 2018, which has enabled the Navy to continue deploying these vessels operationally within its jurisdictional waters.

This process, which took place within the so-called Jupiter project, involved investments of about US$71 million, including the repowering of the vessels, in addition to the design, manufacture, and installation of the Orion Command, Control, and Communications System, developed entirely by the engineers and specialized personnel of the Ecuadorian shipyard.

These Corvettes belonged to the Esmeralda Class and were built by the Italian company Fincantieri, in Italy, during the 80s.

With information from InfoDefensa