Article Posted on : - Mar 25, 2013

Swiftships-built 35m-long patrol boat. Photo: Swiftships.

UMM QASR, IRAQ (BNS): The US Navy has delivered two more 35m-long coastal patrol boats to the Iraqi navy at the Umm Qasr naval facility in Iraq after each craft successfully completed reactivation in Bahrain.

The patrol boats, PB-310 and PB-311, are the 10th and 11th vessels in the 12-boat procurement, a US Navy statement said.

"Together with the nine patrol boats previously delivered, these two new vessels are a significant step toward meeting Iraq's security requirements in the northern Arabian Gulf," Frank McCarthey, Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships' programme manager for Support Ships, Boats and Craft, was quoted as saying.

The boat is armed with a 30 millimeter gun weapon system, provides for a crew of 25 and is capable of reaching 30 knots, it said.

The US Navy and Swiftships Shipbuilders are supporting the Iraqi navy in the procurement and construction of the patrol boats.

The PEO Ships delivered two 60-meter offshore support vessels to the Iraqi Navy in December 2012.

PEO Ships currently manages the design and construction of all US Navy destroyers, amphibious ships, special mission and support ships, as well as a wide range of small boats and craft for US agencies and allied nations.