Australia’s New Cape Class Patrol Boat Rolled Out
Austal’s Cape-class patrol boat program for the Royal Australian Navy has directly engaged 348 Australian suppliers and directly employed 350 people over the past 12 months of construction. (Photo: Austal)
Defense Industry Minister The Hon. Christopher Pyne MP meeting some of the Austal production team during the rollout of Hull 380; the first Cape-class patrol boat to be delivered to the Royal Australian Navy. (Photo: Austal)
Austal CEO David Singleton welcomed Minister for Defense Industry The Hon Christopher Pyne MP, Senator Chris Back and Federal Member for Canning, Andrew Hastie MP to Austal for the roll out of Hull 380, the first Cape-class patrol boat for the Royal Australian Navy. (Photo: Austal)
The Cape-class patrol boat is an effective maritime border protection capability, in service with the Australian Border Force and Royal Australian Navy. (Photo: Austal)
Australian shipbuilder Austal has rolled out the ninth Cape class patrol boat for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Designed and constructed by Austal, Hull 380 is the first of two Cape class vessels scheduled to be delivered in 2017.
In attendance at the official roll out ceremony, which took place prior to launching at Austal’s Henderson Western Australia shipyard, were Australian Defense Industry Minister Christopher Pyne, Senator Chris Back and Federal Member for Canning, Andrew Hastie, joined by Austal Chief Executive Officer David Singleton and Austal Chairman John Rothwell.
“Austal delivered eight Capes to the Australian Border Force over 2013 – 2015 and we will hand over Capes nine and 10 to the Royal Australian Navy in the first half of 2017. To date, we have directly engaged 348 Australian suppliers and created and sustained 350 jobs in the delivery of the Cape program,” Singleton said.
Austal’s Cape-class patrol boat is a 58-meter all aluminum monohull vessel, designed to perform border protection and maritime security tasks, with a top speed of 26 knots and a range of up to 4,000 nautical miles. With a crew of 22, the vessel is capable of undertaking 28 day patrols in (up to) sea state 4 and the ability to launch two boats simultaneously.
New, enhanced maritime security and anti-mine warfare variants of the Cape were announced at Euronaval 2016, which offer even greater capability and feature mission packages that include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned surface vessel (USVs) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV’s).
Hull 380 will undergo final fitout before sea trials commencing in January 2017. Delivery to the RAN is on schedule for April 2017.
The second Cape for the RAN, Hull 381, is due for launch in February 2017.
