{"id":3913,"date":"2023-03-27T20:12:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T17:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=3913"},"modified":"2025-12-15T20:22:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T17:22:28","slug":"malta-commissions-opv-p71-into-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=3913","title":{"rendered":"Malta commissions OPV P71 into service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) has commissioned its new offshore patrol vessel (OPV), P71, into service.<\/strong><br><br><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"wp-image-3914\" style=\"width: 1200px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2023-03-27-Malta-commissions-OPV-P71-into-service.jpg\" alt=\"2023 03 27 Malta commissions OPV P71 into service\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2023-03-27-Malta-commissions-OPV-P71-into-service.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2023-03-27-Malta-commissions-OPV-P71-into-service-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2023-03-27-Malta-commissions-OPV-P71-into-service-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2023-03-27-Malta-commissions-OPV-P71-into-service-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>P71 , which is the new flagship of the AFM, officially joined the fleet during a ceremony held at the AFM&#8217;s Hay Wharf naval base in Floriana, Valetta, on 22 March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The OPV was built by Italian shipbuilder Cantiere Navale Vittoria under a contract worth more than EUR50,000 (USD53,801) awarded in October 2018. The ship was co-financed by the European Union (EU) under the Internal Security Fund. It was laid down in 2019, launched in February 2021, and handed over to Malta in November 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It will be used to conduct coastal and offshore surveillance operations and search-and-rescue missions in the Central Mediterranean region \u2013 most of which are related to illegal migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>P71 is the largest vessel ever built by Cantiere Navale Vittoria and will be the largest ship to be operated by the AFM&#8217;s Maritime Squadron. It has a full load displacement of 2,000 tonnes, an overall length of 74.8 m, and can carry a crew complement of 49, with accommodation for an additional 20 personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ship&#8217;s propulsion is a hybrid configuration based on two W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 5,440 kW diesel engines and two electrical motors on two shafts with controllable pitch propellers, enabling a top speed of 20 kt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.janes.com\/osint-insights\/defence-news\/sea\/malta-commissions-opv-p71-into-service\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Janes News<\/a> by Kate Tringham, 27 March 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Photo:<\/strong> Malta&#8217;s new OPV P71 was commissioned into service on 23 March. (Photo by Armed Forces of Malta)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Editor:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?cat=1703\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Luccia Gatti <\/a>(\u00a9XAirForces Defense Aviation and SCI New Technologies Editor from Italy)<br><br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/xairforces.net\/newsd.asp?newsid=3241&amp;newst=4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Malta commissions OPV P71 into service<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) has commissioned its new offshore patrol vessel (OPV), P71, into service. P71 , which is the new flagship of the AFM, officially joined the&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[174,1727,1703,1658,1657,31,6,18],"tags":[4237,4233,4236,4231,4232,4235,4234],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3913"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3916,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3913\/revisions\/3916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}