The outlook for American boat builders and shipbuilders is bright, with Swiftships, Trinity Offshore, U.S. Marine, Incorporated (USMI), Riverhawk Fast Sea Frames, Kvichak Marine and Westport vying for lucrative patrol boat and fast interceptor craft contracts in MENA and elsewhere. Others, like Brunswick Commercial and Government Products, Willard Marine, SAFEboats, Metal Shark, Silverships, and Tampa Yacht Manufacturing, have been very successfully selling smaller patrol craft and rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs).
North and South Korea both operate numerous small craft, SOC, and hovercraft. North Korea operates 200-plus hovercraft as SOC and assault craft, making it the world’s largest user of air cushion vehicles (ACVs).
From the United States, Brunswick Commercial and Government Products has been particularly successful in selling a line of riverine assault craft (RAC) and small patrol craft. Its Boston Whaler Guardian RAC are ubiquitous, with several hundred in use globally. In Latin America, where they are known as Piranha, a number of navies produce locally modified versions like the Colombian Caribe series. For 2013, Brunswick expects to deliver 41 Boston Whalers to Latin American customers and Singapore and eight Impact RHIB patrol craft to Mexico. Some of these deliveries are part of an ongoing 4-year U.S. military contract for counternarcotics vessels to Latin American nations as well as direct foreign sales. SAFE Boats International (SBI), for one, has made major inroads in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia with its 25-foot to 44-foot range of small patrol craft, as it is the platform of choice for U.S. government security assistance programs. Swiftships, having sold numerous riverine warfare, small patrol craft, and 35-meter coastal patrol boats for the Iraqi navy, is currently supplying material packages and technical assistance to an Egyptian shipyard for several 28-meter patrol craft for the Egyptian coast guard under a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
According to Indonesia-based North Sea Boats, the X38 SOC the company is building for Indonesian navy special operations forces is based on a composite, catamaran hull design from Sweden’s Marine Dynamics, providing a very low draft, enabling beach landings and access to river estuaries and areas with shallow water that normally cannot be reached with conventional craft. The 10.8-meter craft has a nominal draft of 0.9 meters and 0.6 meters with raised outboard engines. Versions have been built in the Netherlands by TP Marine, which has also built a revised variant called the K-38 for the Nigerian army. Normal crew complement is four, with eight embarked troops. TNIAL via A. Tiahahu
Others, like Metal Shark’s 38-foot Defiant response boat-small (RB-S), are now being delivered to operators like Bangladesh and the Seychelles. Oregon Iron Works, Inc. (OIW) has built several Alligator semi-submersibles for the Israeli navy special forces.
The U.S. Coast Guard’s Office of International Acquisitions (OIA), working through the Navy International Programs Office (NIPO), has been executing FMS and Excess Defense Articles (EDA) sales since 1997 – delivering some 119 EDA and 230 new procurement assets (including aircraft) to 58 nations, with most deliveries taking place over the last 5 years.
Florida-based Tampa Yacht Manufacturing sells a range of small patrol craft and RHIBs to several nations without much publicity. Notably these are direct commercial sales, not FMS. Recent deliveries have included 17 35-foot patrol craft to the Indian government. Ongoing deliveries include a series of six 50-foot fast attack craft over the next 18 to 24 months, 10 36-foot RHIBs over the next 12 months, and 28 44-foot fast coastal interceptors over a two-year period. It is likely these orders are for the Indian government.
U.S. Security Assistance Programs – Win-Win-Win for Everyone
Several U.S. shipbuilders have benefited from the considerable largesse generated by numerous U.S. government Security Assistance Programs and FMS programs. For example, Swiftships has an ongoing program for several 28-meter patrol craft with local manufacture for the Egyptian coast guard. USMI is executing an order for 10 Mk. V SOC fitted with remotely operated MLG-27 cannon along with unspecified numbers of 11-meter RHIBs to the Kuwaiti naval force.
By March 2013, 342 assets (including four aircraft for the Mexican navy) had been delivered, with 67 assets pending delivery. For 2013, OIA expects to deliver 59 assets – almost all small craft and RHIBs – to 13 countries including Albania, which will receive two 44-foot special purpose craft-near shore life boats (SPC-NLB).
The U.S. Coast Guard’s Office of International Acquisitions (OIA), working through the Navy International Programs Office (NIPO), has been executing FMS and Excess Defense Articles (EDA) sales since 1997 – delivering some 119 EDA and 230 new procurement assets (including aircraft) to 58 nations, with most deliveries taking place over the last 5 years.
OIA takes the lead if the assets are slated for use in “coast guard-like” missions, while a Navy system command is the lead if assets are slated for naval roles and missions.
Since 2003, annual sales have risen dramatically, from $10.3 million to an average of $105 million over the four years leading up to 2012, albeit dropping to around $72 million in 2012. Still, 2012 was notable for the record number of new letters of acceptance (LOA) signed – 58 with 25 countries – said OIA’s FMS Program Manager Tod F. Reinert.
Chilean SAFE Boats Defenders. Chile is the U.S. Coast Guard Office of International Acquisition’s largest response boat customer. USCG photo
By March 2013, 342 assets (including four aircraft for the Mexican navy) had been delivered, with 67 assets pending delivery. For 2013, OIA expects to deliver 59 assets – almost all small craft and RHIBs – to 13 countries including Albania, which will receive two 44-foot special purpose craft-near shore life boats (SPC-NLB).
Chile, with some 48 contracted boats – 25-foot, 44-foot, and self-righting lifeboats – is OIA’s largest response boat customer. Bangladesh is another major customer, receiving 20 Defiant boats since 2012, in addition to previous deliveries of 21 Defenders.
Colombia is to get six 38-foot stretched special purpose craft-law enforcement (SPC-LE) from SAFE Boats in 2013, while Seychelles is expected to receive two RBS-II from Metal Shark in 2013.
LOA are pending for a total of nine response boats-medium (RB-M) for two countries. If signed, it will be a good start to the new program, said Reinert.
These sales are a “win-win-win proposition” said Reinert at the SeaAirSpace Expo in April, explaining that the first win is for the U.S. industrial base, since production lines remain open long after government programs wind down, thus ensuring a “very competitive” supplier base for spares and future acquisitions. The second win is for the United States writ large, as these transfers are often the very first tentative steps in developing relationships that enhance the pursuit of cooperative maritime safety and security goals at the national level. Finally, the third win is in building partner nation capacity and capability in the international domain, like the Eastern Caribbean Regional Security System, for which 22 SPC-LE were delivered to nine countries. With EDA transfers, some $65 million has been saved in disposal costs.