Austal Launches First Guardian Class Pacific Patrol Boat In Australia

[The Ronin]

Australian shipbuilder Austal Ltd. has launched the first of 21 new Guardian Class Pacific Patrol Boats on 29 May. The $16 million worth vessel named as Ted Diro with pennant number 401 was launched at Australian Marine Complex at Henderson, Western Australia. The patrol boat is a gift to Australia's island neighbour Papaua New Guinea as a part of the Pacific maritime security program.

The Guardian Class Pacific Patrol Boat has a length of 39.5 metres, a maximum speed of 20 knots and a complement of 23 crew members. Powered by two 5,400hp diesel engines, the vessel can travel 3,000 nautical miles at 12 knots. It will have a 30mm autocannon, two heavy machine guns and a launching ramp at the stern for a pursuit boat.

In May 2016, the Australian government signed a A$305 million contract with Austal for 19 Guardian Class Pacific Patrol Boats and later in April 2018, the company received an additional A$29.7 million contract to build two more vessels. All 21 patrol boats will be gifted to 12 Pacific Island countries and East Timor Leste under Canberra’s SEA 3036 Pacific Patrol Boat programme. Construction of the first vessel started in April 2017 and is scheduled to be delivered to Papua New Guinea in late October 2018 while the second and third boats are at various stages of construction. These patrol boats will be used by the countries to conduct maritime surveillance and enforcement operations like fighting illegal fishing.

 

[Bilal9]

These (Guardian Class) patrol boats are a smaller complement and partner to the famous 'Armidale class' boats in the Australian border patrol fleet. This Guardian class is about half the size compared to the Armidale class, carries half as big a sailor complement and then also costs about half as much to build (28 Million vs. 16 Million). One of my favorite classes, I hoped Bangladesh' recent 'Shobuj Bangla' class would turn out as potent as the Armidales, but for cost cutting reasons, they made those Coast Guard boats far less potent and antiquated.

Sadly, they are decommissioning these Armidale class boats for some reason and they'd serve wonderfully for our Navy as refurbished units. Love the outline of this class and you can see how stable it is in rough seas. Mr. Ronin - go ahead and talk it up with the bigwigs.

Armidale Class

Main M242 25mm Bushmaster Auto-Cannon