Australia has ordered two additional Guardian-class patrol boats from Austal valued at 39 million Australian dollars ($26 million).
The new order comes in addition to the 22 boats previously ordered for the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Project, which was created to replace the Pacific Island Countries’ old Pacific Patrol Boats, which have been in service since as early as 1987.
The steel-hull boats will be constructed at Henderson, Western Australia, and are scheduled for delivery in 2026.
In-service support for the ships will be provided by Austal’s service center in Cairns.
Protecting the Pacific
The Guardian-class boats are used by countries such as Fiji and Samoa to bolster their maritime security, policing, and regional coordination missions in the Pacific Ocean.
They are also used to protect marine biodiversity and utilized in anti-illegal fishing activities in the region.
Each boat is fitted with an integrated rigid-hull inflatable boat stern launch system, which allows it to deploy smaller boats for high-security border patrols.
The 130-foot (39.5 meters) vessel can reach 23 miles (37 kilometers) per hour, and has a range of up to 3,500 miles (5,600 kilometers).