Austal delivers 7th Guardian-class Patrol Boat to Australia for Palau.

Austal Limited’s Austal Australia has delivered the 7th Guardian-class Patrol Boat (GCPB) to the Australian Department of Defence. The vessel, PSS President H.I. Remeliik II, was gifted by the Government of Australia to the Government of Palau during a handover ceremony at Austal Australia’s Henderson shipyard, attended by Australian Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price MP and RADM Wendy Malcolm, RAN, Head of Maritime Systems, Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group.
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The Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Program (PPBR) comprises 21 x 39.5m steel hull vessels designed and constructed by Austal for delivery to 12 Pacific Island nations and Timor Leste from late 2018 to 2023 (Picture source: Austal)

Austal Chief Executive David Singleton said this Guardian-class Patrol Boat delivery was unique as it is the first to take place under COVID-19 restrictions, limiting the attendees at the ceremony : “While we are indeed celebrating the delivery of this latest Guardian-class Patrol Boat, we are obviously missing the presence of a number of special guests we would normally have here, from both Palau and Canberra. We are fortunate, however, to be able to hand over this impressive new ship to the very proud and capable Palau crew, who have diligently observed all necessary COVID-19 safe protocols and procedures while completing a comprehensive training program that Austal provides, here in Western Australia”.

The Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement (PPB-R) Project was awarded to Austal in May 2016, with an additional contract option awarded in April 2018, taking the program to 21 vessels valued at more than A$335 million.

Twelve Pacific Island nations including Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Samoa, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Timor Leste will receive the vessels through to 2023.The Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Project supports more than 200 direct jobs at Austal Australia and more than 200 indirect jobs nationally, through approximately 450 Australian businesses contracted.

Austal’s service centre in Cairns is providing in-service support to the growing Guardian-class Patrol Boat fleet, with more than 40 people now employed in a variety of engineering and sustainment roles in the Far North Queensland city. 

LCDR Emerson Nobuo, RADM Wendy Malcolm RAN, Head of Maritime Systems CASG and The Hon Melissa Price MP, Minister for Defence Industry (Picture source: Austal)

The Guardian-class patrol boats are a class of small patrol vessels designed and built in Australia for small Pacific Ocean countries. The class is designed to be updated replacements for the Pacific Forum-class patrol boats provided to its allies from 1987 to 1997. Australia provided twenty-two Pacific Forum vessels to twelve nations. They were designed to use commercial off the shelf components, to make them easier to maintain for the small nations that would operate them. Australia stood ready to help with training and maintenance, during the duration of the program, because Australia's external security issues were eased if it could count on its sovereign neighbours having resources to police their own external security.

Austal was commissioned to build 19 Guardian-class boats in 2016. Austal's contract allows it to market the design to additional customers. Subsequently, an additional two vessels were ordered for Timor-Leste, scheduled for delivery in late 2023. Austal delivered HMPNGS Ted Diro to the Papua New Guinea Defence Force on 30 November 2018..