The MoD has signed a £9.9 million contract with Merseyside-based Marine Specialised Technology (MST) for two new boats to replace the Gibraltar Squadron Fast Patrol Craft.

The six-year contract will see construction of the two boats beginning in July 2020 and will take approximately 18 months, with Boat 1 due to be delivered in Q3 2021/22 and Boat 2 in Q1 2022/23.

Image

Both boats will be used to patrol HMNB Gibraltar and British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW).

According to the Ministry of Defence:

“Putting technological advancement at the fore, the vessels will demonstrate UK sovereignty of Gibraltar as well as providing force protection to designated visiting UK and Allied military vessels.”

Defence Minister Jeremy Quin said:

“These new vessels will enable the Royal Navy to maintain the security of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters and protect British, NATO and Allied ships transiting through the region. This contract will also support highly skilled jobs across the UK which clearly demonstrates how national security and regional prosperity go hand in hand.”

The two new boats will replace the Gibraltar Squadron Fast Patrol Craft, HMS Pursuer and Dasher. These two Archer-class vessels very recently took over from HMS SABRE and HMS SCIMITAR, the Scimitar Class vessels that had been in service in Gibraltar for 17 years.

Mark Milsom, Project Manager for DE&S Boats Team, said:

“There has been a British Armed Forces presence in Gibraltar for more than a hundred years and these boats will ensure we maintain an important capability to the Royal Navy and our armed forces, as well as playing a pivotal role in patrolling our coastline, protecting domestic waters and supporting maritime interests. These boats will provide the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron with a modern, fast and effective capability for fulfilling their important role.”

The vessels are being built at MST’s boatyard on Merseyside.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
Twitter

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

110 COMMENTS

  1. 3 GPMG. Good to see. Seems a lot to me. And FFBNW .50. Were Scimitar and Sabre similarly armed?

    Good to see proper replacements being ordered when many feared those Archers would be the replacements, in effect a stealth cut.

    • As I mentioned previously this year.

      Dear Mr Collins

      Thank you for your email of 14 February to the Secretary of State for Defence, regarding your suggestion to save time and money in respect of defence procurement.

      Your email has been passed to Navy Command for a response.
      The Government remains committed to ensuring that the Royal Navy (RN) will have theships required to fulfil Defence commitments. The National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSbS) identified that there is a need for greater volume in the destroyer and frigate force in order to deliver the required operational flexibility.

      The Strategy explained that the vision for the RN is that it has more ships which are modern and capable of being incrementally modernised and improved, are exportable, and can work with allies.

      To enable this the RN has created a 30-year shipbuilding master plan, which documents the schedule and capabilities of ships that will be invested in over the next 30 years.

      While the fourteen P2000 Fast Inshore Patrol Craft from the First Patrol Boat Squadron supports the University Royal Naval Units, they also contribute to a wide range of Fleet tasking.

      The Scimitar class ships of the RN’s Gibraltar Squadron watch over Gibraltar’s
      shores and support ships in the Strait of Gibraltar. HMS SCIMITAR and HMS SABRE, along with three Pacific Rigid Inflatable Boats, support British exercises and operations in the area.

      The MOD is currently in the process of procuring two new vessels to replace the Scimitar Class which will see a significant increase in capability compared with the current vessels.

      Regarding the F35 Lightning aircraft, the Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraft carriers have been tailor-made for the Fifth-Generation Lightning aircraft.

      The UK currently owns 18 F35 Lightning aircraft with the formal procurement of a further 30 aircraft to complete the Tranche 1 Fleet of 48 aircraft.

      Seventeen are being procured in block buy; block buy
      achieves economies of scale and unit price reductions compared to procuring smaller order quantities.

      I hope this information is helpful to you, and may I thank you for your interest in the Royal Navy.

      Yours sincerely

      Navy Command Secretariat”

    • …but fitted for 50 cal, not with…probably saved 50p… and £9.9 million. We have a luxury yacht builder in Plymouth who could probably have bettered that.

      • I agree…£9.9m for a couple of lightly armed pleasure cruisers. Have they got gold plated loo seats and a jacuzzi to entertain guests. Tell you what, the MOD really know how to get a great deal. Anybody got a used car they want to sell cause I’ve got a great government department that stupid enough to pay twice its market price.

        • The last time the Swedes ordered any CB90’s (2017) they cost $2.6m each. I know they are smaller, but far more combat capable. The larger a, more capable and much more heavily armed US Mk6 patrol boats cost $15m each…………

        • Got to be honest, this is exactly the kind of appalling waste Dominic Cummings is on about! Ridiculous price for a cabin cruiser! In order to deter the much larger Spanish OPVs we need to put an OPV our own at Gib.

          • You’re complaining about waste at the same time as suggesting the extremely wasteful overkill of sending an OPV to “deter” an ally…?

            The Spanish can behave like children all they want, why should we waste money playing the same game? They’ll never try anything, because they’d absolutely fuck themselves. A couple of boats to make sure their daft antics don’t actually cause an accident is plenty.

          • Callum – just one point… an “ally” ? An “ally” is not one that allows the re-fuelling of Russian warships in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Puts a new spin on the Spanish naval harassment of US nuclear subnmarines trying to enter H.M. Naval Base, Gibraltar..

          • Spain is an ally, and also a member of NATO, they say silly things about gib, usually round election time, and that’s about it. Spain, where we all go on holiday, it’s not Somalia.

          • The Spanish hold a real grudge over Gib, and will continue to do so. They will also continue to disrupt and be a nuisance to make their point. Problem with that is, one day, their antics will result in a serious incident, intentional or not….. having seen them up close, I can say the Spanish OPVs are actually quite sizeable for what they are, and certainly not worried in the least by our much smaller patrol boats.

          • Unless Spain gives Ceuta & Melilla back to the Moroccans they don’t have a leg to stand on over Gibraltar. Sheer hypocrisy.

          • Can’t exactly blame them, its a tiny landmass that is connected to mainland Spain and is a wee distance from the UK.

            If you put aside for a moment the people that live there, i don’t think there is much doubt that we should give it back to Spain as it clearly should belong to them.

            However both countries are democracies, and therefore should respect the views of the people that live on the rock.

            It’s going to be interesting to see how things develop on that front with Brexit, as no doubt the people of Gib will feel it a lot harder than those in mainland UK.

          • Hi Steve. My “Exactly” comment was not in relation to the situation in Gib, but in agreement with Paul42 further up thread as an example of something that DC might look at as to value for money or not and waste. Having said that, what do I know? As Fedaykin says, who knows infinitely more than me on costs, these boats have other features setting them apart from “pleasure boats” so I’m quite possibly wrong and they are value for 9 million.

            On Gibraltar. We all know it has nothing to do with people, the Rock is a strategic location which any country should wish to hold on to, for intelligence reasons, passage, forward deployment, and other reasons.

            By an accident of history, for right or wrong, treaty or no treaty, the UK is in residence, and we should make sure we stay there for OUR strategic reasons!

          • Shut up, it clearly belongs to the UK, Should France be part of Spain because it’s connected? Being connected or distance has nothing to do with who owns anything…. stupid way of looking at things. And signed documents mean more and Spain ceded Gibraltar to the UK, this is why it’s STILL BRITISH TERRITORY JUST LIKE THE OTHER 14 OVERSEAS TERRITORY.

          • Steve, totally agree its down to the people who live there and its not like Spain have any moral high ground, apologies if its been mentioned but Ceuta and Melilla are exactly the same thing and they have no intention of handing them over to Morocco. Even if they did, it should be down to the people who live there if they want to become part of Spain, not the Spanish government.

          • Steve, have you lost your mind? You think we should give Gibraltar to Spain, never mind that the British residents are very happy being British and as far as your “it’s a tiny landmass attached to Spain” comment goes…Gibraltar is an extremely important strategic location as it is the key to the Mediterranean Sea, you can control what goes in and out of the Med by having Gibraltar.
            With that sort of attitude, what are you going to say next…We should give the Falklands to Argentina or give Ulster to the Irish Republic?
            Wind your neck in sunshine……

          • You are treaty bound to allow unification of Ireland and Northern Ireland (not Ulster) if there’s a majority for it.

          • Fine. We know that it might come to that. Do you think the people of ROI want that? Would be interesting to see such a vote.

          • Realistically if the point comes that NI does have enough support to carry a vote, then it’s hard to imagine the Republic refusing it, economically NI is a basket case but no political party would survive arguing against unification.

          • With respect, that’s bollox. It’s ours. By treaty. Legal. Spain our ‘ally’ can frankly go and do one.

          • We are not going to ‘give it back’. Gib is a major intelligence surveillance hub, the gateway to the Med and now with the basing of a River 2 the home port to a reborn West Africa Squadron. Nigeria is of strategic importance – a country rich in resources struggling with Islamism and one of the few nations in the world right now with a healthy demographic profile. The Nigerians like babies!

          • Steve, you daren’t express a moderate opinion about sovereignty on this site without incurring the ire (and insults) of some of the contributors. Sadly, schoolboy pride appears to be at stake here ?

          • I’d imagine these boats have a fair few more sensors and other equipment compared to a cabin cruiser.

            Also, putting an OPV there is pointless. Spain will never do anything, just make a lot of noise. Let Spain sail their OPVs there. Let them make a lot of noise and waste money from their own decence budget.

            All we need these boats to do is ward off the Spanish Navy when they start posturing and playing silly buggers, and prevent an accident.

        • Your average small pleasure cruiser doesn’t have 3 x 1000hp engines! Comparing these to a civilian pleasure craft is comically wrong, the cost will include a lengthy support contract no doubt add to that the paper trail needed to be even considered for procurement and then the military systems fit out for what are some pretty small but very powerful boats! These are not meant to bob about in the med with fishing rods trailing into the water or towing water skis. They are military boats requiring a whole different grade of fit and finish.

          Also fyi £9.9 million is peanuts when we are talking about defence procurement, that is frankly almost pocket change when compared to the cost of other systems operated by the Royal!

          • I think that you have made my point….’peanuts when we are talking about defence procurement’ and ‘add to that the paper trail needed to be even considered for procurement’ ! It has 3 x 1000hp engines to stuff it up to 40Kts…how many times will it be able to achieve that speed in open water? I understand that the territorial waters of Gib are pretty small!

          • Not really, your point was these are some how over priced pleasure cruisers. That is wrong considering their fit out and the nature of defence procurement.

          • Sometimes it’s not about the top speed, but the acceleration they can achieve to respond quickly.

          • Could have fooled me but wont the Spanish. The idea these will escort anything through the Straits is beyond parody.

          • They are not intended to escort anything through the straits, they are harbour patrol boats that only go so far as Gibraltar claimed waters outside the harbour.

        • Build to take 18 months in a 6 year contract so the assumption is that it is an all in contract with delivery of full support and maintenance included for the full 6 years – so a build cost comparison with other manufacturer prices is irrelevant and misdirecting.

        • Hardly a cabin cruiser – they are 70 feet long, have three thousand horsepower diesels with a top speed of 55mph.. They are in effect the same size as a WW2 MTB, but with a 10kt speed advantage.

          Given that their job is to police the territorial waters they don’t need a heavy armament, although 3 MG stations is enough to outgun any traffickers. As far as the Spanish go, if we get into a shooting war with them then we’ll need more than a few patrol boats. It seems certain an OPV will be forward based at Gib anyway..

  3. How suitable would these be as a replacement for the Archer class as a whole? They’re a touch smaller but nearly twice as fast, and it obviously makes sense to buy a single class of patrol vessel if possible.

    • Whatever replaces the Archer Class arguably needs more accommodation for cadets etc on board for a period of days. Suspect whatever replaces the Archer Class will be a bit larger than them, and may have more FFBNW space for weapons, more space for boat handling and unmanned gear.

  4. “There has been a British Armed Forces presence in Gibraltar for more than a hundred years”. True, but a very strange way to describe a 316 year continuous presence.

    • Yeh, I spotted that and got the impression that the spokesperson didn’t actually know their history. Poor show.

      Cheers CR

    • You guys beat me to it. I was going to say that there has been a British Armed Forces presence in Gibraltar for over three centuries. Also- a six year contract with both being delivered in under three years? I presume the balance is a maintenance period?

    • This is what happens when people don’t do their research……it makes them look a tad daft, but only to those who know their British military history.

  5. Given that those GPMG are for show, and will unlikely ever be used. Why didn’t they mount something a bit more impressive like a 20mm. Would certainly send a better image.

    • Far too expensive and we don’t want to further offend the swarthy senors by fielding something that would do more than scratch the paint on their huge ‘patrol’ craft that they routinely deploy.

    • The Archers are FFBNW a 20mm mounting, but GPMGs are fine for their true role which is to counter terrorist or sabotage attacks & general harbour policing.

    • I think you answered your own question there: if they are unlikely to ever be used, why put an expensive 20mm gun on there instead of GPMGs, of which we already have an abundance?

  6. Hi folks hope are all well.
    Good to see articles like this and also the UK being more assertive in the region considering recent issues of unprofessional behaviour of Spanish coastal patrols in the area, including dangerous incidents.
    At a guess these vessels are coming at the right time considering the possibility of a no deal Brexit looming.
    Are these new craft better equipped in respect to armoury if required to intercept hostile crafts?
    Cheers
    George

  8. I kinda hope they station one of the river1 there for a few years whilst Brexit sorts itself out.

    There is a lot of posturing going on and that is allowing Spain to keep sending larger patrol crafts into British waters. Whilst for sure we are not going to have a shooting match, but at least meet size for size to give a clear message that these are our waters, rather than a small archer intercepting them.

    • In my opinion Steve, I can’t see why they don’t send a Type 23 or a Type 45 for a few months, that’ll shut the Spaniards up for a while……or why not HMS Queen Elizabeth to make sure they get the message?? I’m all for that.

      • The area that these boats will operate in, is very small. A major war ship will have no space to manoeuvre and would take to long to respond.

      • Stevo H, I do think that the CBG should be forward deployed to Gib. From Gib it can get to the Eastern Med, Carrabien and South Atlantic much quicker and reduces tanker requirements.
        However for local patrols small craft is needed, I just wish that the MoD and the RN would see the need for a real fast attack missile boat

  9. On the subject of NSbS, have just done another 6 month search over latest update on RSS Sir David Attenborough. Still evidently in information lockdown. The vesel itself looks ‘right’, so will be a fine asset, but it’s not a nuclear submarine! so why the privilege of the Official Secrets Act, to all intents and purposes?
    Lairds should be faced with public scrutiny, with the laudable objective of forcing improved oversight and efficiency in order to aid survival in this most cutthroat industry, not given the comfort of a wraparound media security blanket, I feel.
    Regards

  10. ” Fitted for, but not with ” – the current story of Royal Navy procurement. Somewhere, just somewhere in an MOD store there must a 0.50 cal HMG already purchased and paid for ? Or is it, as I suspect, perceived by the Woke/PC in the FO/MOD as piece of aggressive force projection ?
    These new craft will have a wide-ranging role with limited-role armament. Surely there is absolutely no argument available for not fitting one. (Wait for it…..)
    The one piece of good news…. the new craft will, for once, actually be ‘Made in England’ !!

    • I suspect that its more that as always we buy pretty hardware but don’t have enough stocks in the background to arm them. Irag/Afgan showed just how bad the stores were for basic gear and so wouldn’t surprise me if we dont’ have 50 cals spare that haven’ already been grabbed by other uses.

      • Steve you could, frightenly, be right – but – can you imagine an MOD that doesn’t have one single 0.50 cal HMG spare ? An MOD that can spend/over-spend nearly £10 million GBP and not be able to specify a 0.50 cal within that budget.

        I am very afraid it’s rather like the argument at the start of the Afghanistan deployment about vehicles ” they must not appear aggresive to the civilian population ” and the endless UOR’s obediently produced just that – interestingly they didn’t appear to be “aggresive” to the Taliban either.

        So here is my challenge to all ‘serving’ UK military personnel – have you spotted a lonely ‘homeless’ 0.50 cal anywhere ?

        Or maybe we should have a national, public, fund-raiser and take a trip to a Walmart in the USA and pick-up somthing useful for our ‘fiited for, but not with’ Royal Navy.

        • Its not just the guns, it the ammo and spares etc. I would hope they would have plenty spare, but wouldn’t bet on it.

          Is a .50 cal really going to look a lot more aggressive than a few GPMG’s.

          I never really brought the whole we must not look aggressive position as the explanation. My feeling has always this was an explanation made to explain situation, rather than the reason behind it. Our military leaders seems incapable of coming out and stating realities of the situation, instead they seem to come back with the ‘can do’ mentality which causes deaths.

          My feeling is we just didn’t have any vehicles that were properly armored and could fit into tight streets, if we had them at the time, i suspect we would have used them.

      • Harry, the .50 cal hmg information came from the Press Release issued by the MOD in their widely distributed illustration of the new patrol craft whereby “.50cal” is clearly stated – in writing. Along with the well worn, sad, phrase “Fitted for, but not with”. .. So, one presumes the information is correct.

        • I’m not saying that. I’m saying its unlikely the RN have any at hand. Or even trained crew to use it.

          • Harry, that is a problem for the MOD – not for me to justify but, again, the MOD did make the “0.50 Cal” statement in their Press Release material. Therefore, it can be presumed that allowance has been made in the nearly £10m GBP contract for the purchase, training and ammunition supply of said 2 x .50cal for the two patrol craft.
            To repeat – the MOD made the 0.50 cal statement – not me. All issues regardng acquisition of the 2 x weapons and subsequent training should be adressed to the MOD. If they are incorrect in their Press Release statement they will have to withdraw it from media circulation and ammend it from ” fitted for but not with” – to – “..we have fitted for but have no intention of ever supplyng 2 x .50 Cal.because we cannot afford to purchase/ cannot find any in stock/ the training on a .50 cal is far too complex for the Royal Navy in 2020..”

          • Morning Clive and Harry.

            If the option is there, which in my view is sufficient anyway, I guess it is a contingency in a war or major threat scenario where those bringing and using the .50 may be army, not RN.
            In war does it matter what service the people on board are, all that goes out the window surely. It is there if needed.

          • If it is a war then then the crew would just receive training in the use of HMG. But for the current peace time role, there’s no need for all the extra hassle for two HMG.

        • Clive…..I’m pretty sure that they will have them on board, they’re quite tasty in action and would shred a Spanish pleasure boat to pieces.

      • A couple of .50’s and a 20mm cannon would do the trick and keep the Spanish speed boats in port forever. Even the .50’s would do serious damage to a Spanish OPV, so even though it says “fitted out for but not supplied” about the HMG’S……it wouldn’t surprise me if they do actually have them.

        • I mean if we are at a point where 50cal is being fired at the Spanish theres a very big problem. IMO it’s got to be a priority of resources. Okay an extra .50cal is nice, and costs little, but you’re not going to start a war over a harbour incursion… so maybe it’s better to build a better NAAFI.

        • Yes, it says a 50cal won’t be fitted, unless needed, but some seem to think its critical they have one. So I’d say the MOD is correct. GPMG for show is enough.

      • Because it’s a deterrent Robert, it’s the same in principle as the daft “why have aircraft carriers” or “why have any military at all” questions.

        • It isn’t though is it, it’s Spain, the land of Benidorm and €1 beers, and paella. It isn’t the straights of hormuz. They are a member of NATO, RN and Spanish naval vessels exercises together regularly. It’s nothing to make a big deal of. These two new vessels will do nicely.

        • A 50cal on a pair of small boats on a small spit of land that is attached to your homeland is not really a deterrent.

  14. I presume these boats were the result of competition between at least MST and Holyhead Marine, the supplier of the 14.9m Island-class Police patrol vessel, and perhaps others. The price might reflect that neither appears to have a 19.0m craft in their portfolio, so MoD is perhaps paying for development of this platform. It will also presumably have higher levels of sensor fit and ballistic protection than a pleasure cruiser.

    Interesting to see the criticism on the spend for UK, nay English built, boats that are supporting 30 jobs and creating a further 25 new jobs. I’m pretty sure some of that criticism is from those that also demand UK built FSS ships. I tend to be critical of MoD budget used as a jobs program, regardless of the service involved, but the criticism seems a bit inconsistent.

  15. Two. Just two. Jesus.

    Gibraltar is a hive of all sorts of activity. I hope there are assets there that are not in the public domain.

  16. To me these look good and capable for the job. Built by a UK firm on Merseyside even better. I can’t see why 0.5 hmg is ffbnw, but that’s RN tradition, I’m not even sure why its mentioned? Is upgrade to 0.5 hmg there to allow a indication of a change in posture? sure the Spanish would terrified?

    But these are better than I thought we’d get. Still would have like to have seen something like Barracuda.

    I’d still like to potentially see the archers stay there as well considering the number of incursions.

    • Now THAT would be impressive on an OPV……only the Americans would try something that made. I mean…..who else would’ve put multiple mini guns, bofors guns and a 105mm howitzer on a bloody Hercules?

  18. Why the costly process of sending two p2000s to Gib if these are only a year or so away, couldn’t the two already there stay on untill then, and we should send the two p2000s being sent to gib to Cyprus, we should definitely have patrol boats stationed there again, it’s a far far far bigger base and more to protect.

    • Cyprus is another important asset in the Mediterranean Sea……having OPV’s there as well would be good but we’ve got RAF Typhoons there and our big Base in Bahrain with its larger RN warship isn’t too far away.

      • I agree with Cam on having some sort of patrol presence in Cyprus. Not for dominating the sea lanes with OPV types, but patrolling the coastline in a security and CT role.

        RAF Akrotiri is a large area with coastal sections. Within it, there is a small facility at Cape Gata. It once had LCVP and RCLs but unsure what is there now. The Archers could go there.

        The Typhoons won’t stay forever.

  21. 10 million for a couple of small boats.Seems strange when its only 4 million for a brand new huge luxurious yacht kitted out with top end bespoke fittings and a dozen ensuite cabins all with expensive high end furnishings.Are these patrol boats made with gold and titanium aswell as a cheap fibreglass hull.Surely the materials to make these boats not including the gun, radar and man hours would amount to no more 300 grand each.

    • That was my assumption phill. Why would you need a build standard way in excess of a police vessel/Border Force vessel for the role that they will be undertaking?

    • Six year contract for boats expected to be in Service in 2-3 years….
      clearly there’s more in the contract that building the two boats.

    • I’m not saying I have any clue on cost but, the improved engines and increased armour for the limited size magazine and any associated seaworthiness upgrades would account for some of the extra cost.

  22. Maybe get iran to sell us 450 of their speed boats.The Spanish will just laugh at us anyway.If they wanted to they could close the straight of Gibraltar anytime they wanted.They would never attack gib because of the innocent peoples there.We seem to slag the Spanish military of for some reason but its on their doorstep of course they could retake it if they so wished to kill people which they do not.What are we going to do hope Egypt let us through the suez with an armada and Spanish subs waiting for us

  23. How about giving these boats some real teath, equip them with three 0.50in/70 GAU gatling guns and four Spike ER missiles. The Philippine Navy has done somthing like this on a vessel of 17 meters and 19 tons.

    That would give Spainish OPVs something to think about!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here