Portal partners
Another Guardian patrol, Austal's production, forwarded to the recipient
Author:Mariusz Dasiewicz
The Australian government donated the Samoa Guardian-type patrol vessel, funded by Australia under the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Assistance Program.
Substitution programme for 22 patrolmen the Pacific type used by 12 countries in the Southern Pacific region by Austal’s new production units was financed by Australia. A similar situation occurred 30 years earlier, as Pacific patrolmen were also a gift from the Australians to less prosperous neighbors.
The value of Australian Pacific Maritime Security Program aid is AUD 2 billion, and the cost of patrolmen of US$335 million is only one of its elements. The current programme includes supplies of 21 units to 13 countries. The programme also generates the maintenance of 400 jobs at Austal’s shipyard in Henderson and its subcontractors.
Handed over to the Samoan police, patrolman Nafanua II is the fourth ship of the series. It is like a whole series, unarmed but adapted for mounting artillery systems to a 30 mm caliber. Samoan police intend to buy from their own resources and mount a small-caliber naval cannon on it. With a displacement of 305 tons and a length of 39.5 m, a Guardian-type patrol vessel reaches 3,000 nautical miles and a speed of 20 knots.
The recipients of Guardian units are to be uniform formations belonging to:
- Papua New Guinea;
- Fiji;
- the United States of Micronesia;
- Tonga;
- Solomon Islands;
- Cook Islands;
- Kiribati;
- Marshall Islands;
- Palau;
- Samoa;
- Tuvalu;
- Vanuatu;
- Timor Leste.
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