US shipbuilder Metal Shark Boats has received orders for additional welded-aluminium patrol boats in a series for Bangladesh, the company said on Wednesday, November 11.
The boats will be built at Metal Shark's facility in Jeanerette, Louisiana. The number of vessels, the contract values, and the expected delivery dates have not been disclosed.
Metal Shark said Bangladesh has acquired more than 50 of its patrol boats since 2011. The vessels now serve with the Bangladesh Army, the Bangladesh Navy and the Bangladesh Coast Guard for sea patrols, interdiction and coastal defence.
According to the company, a common design across the services makes crew training, maintenance and logistics simpler.
The model is a 38-foot (12-metre) monohull with an enclosed pilothouse, designed to patrol along coasts, carry out maritime interdiction, provide port security, and conduct search and rescue operations. The Bangladesh Coast Guard's 22 existing examples can reach a top speed of 40 knots.
The US Government formally handed over ten 38-foot and ten 25-foot (7.6-metre) boats to the Bangladesh Navy and the Bangladesh Coast Guard in September 2021.
Five Metal Shark boats had earlier been delivered to the navy's Special Warfare Diving and Salvage headquarters in Chittagong in April 2019.
The Bangladesh orders follow other recent foreign contracts for the Jeanerette yard, including 13 patrol boats for Vietnam and one boat each for Cameroon and Georgia under US Coast Guard foreign military sales agreements.