MST Launches First in a Series of 18 New Patrol Boats

Marine Specialised Technology Group has launched the first in a series of new Police Patrol Craft being built for the UK Ministry of Defense Police (MDP) and the Gibraltar Ministry of Defense Police (GDP)

Awarded in March 2021, The Police Patrol Craft (PPC) contract is a six-year program that will see delivery of 18 patrol craft to various Police units around the UK and Gibraltar.  The Patrol Craft will be used to ensure protection of major Royal Naval Assets, including capital ships and submarines, as well as installations in and around UK dockyard ports, Gibraltar Naval Base, and wherever else necessary.  

The first part of the contract has seen the craft design being completed by MST’s design partners BMT who carried out the vessel design, with the build of the craft being completed at MST’s new shipyard facility on the Wirral.  

Andrew Phillips, Technical Director for MST Group, said, “MST and BMT design and engineering teams worked closely ensuring that the HPB DNA flowed throughout this new design, resulting in a technologically advanced craft, from hull construction to the capable on board C4iSR systems.”  

The craft was launched on to the River Mersey from MST’s slipway in Bromborough and will now go through several weeks of trials before being presented to MoD Defense Equipment & Support (DE&S) for acceptance.

In the early part of the first craft’s life, it will primarily be used as an educational platform, firstly for MST to provide training to the MDP Training Team.  From here, MDP Trainers will then be able to provide high-level guidance and support to officers who will crew and operate each craft that enters service.