THE AUSTRALIAN government has ordered another patrol boat from shipbuilder Austal for $15.2 million.
The Guardian-class patrol boat will be built in Western Australia. Delivery is scheduled for 2024.
The 29.5-metre steel hull patrol boat will add to the 21 Guardian-class patrol boats the government ordered under the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Project in 2016.
Fifteen of the 21 vessel have been delivered to 11 Pacific Island nations so far.
Austal CEO Paddy Gregg said the new vessel would strengthen regional security in the Pacific.
“The steel hull Guardian has proven to be an exceptionally capable patrol boat in a short period of time, with 15 delivered to date and operating throughout the South Pacific,” he said.
“The Austal Australia team are understandably very proud of the 15 Guardians delivered to date and are pleased to receive an additional order for this effective naval platform – designed and constructed right here in Western Australia, with the help of over 300 suppliers.”
Austal builds Guardian-class patrol boats as naval assets for Pacific Island nations.
They are designed to help with border patrols, regional policing, search and rescue and other domestic and international operations.
Vessels are built under the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Project, covering the delivery of 21 vessels together valued at more than $335 million.
Austal said Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Samoa, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Timor-Leste will receive the vessels through to 2023.
