Louisiana boatbuilder Metal Shark has been awarded two US Coast Guard foreign military sales (FMS) contracts to build patrol boats for Cameroon and Georgia, the company announced on Monday, October 12.
Each agreement provides for a patrol boat, a transport trailer, spare parts and operator training.
The two vessels will be constructed at the company's facility in Jeanerette. Contract values and delivery schedules were not disclosed.
Metal Shark said the boats are intended to bolster both countries' capacity for maritime law enforcement and help safeguard territorial waters and critical infrastructure. It added that its vessels are now operated by over 70 military forces from US partner nations.
The contracts follow a separate US Government order announced earlier this month for 13 Metal Shark patrol boats for Vietnam, which will also be built in Jeanerette.
The patrol boat design is a welded aluminium monohull with an enclosed pilothouse. It has a length of 11.6 metres, a beam of up to 3.48 metres and a draught of 0.76 metre.
Its design can be configured for patrol and interdiction duties, as well as port security and search-and-rescue work, with propulsion options that include twin diesel engines driving waterjets or triple outboard motors.
The configuration selected for the Cameroonian and Georgian boats has not been specified.
