Ukraine inks contract with French company to build 20 fast patrol boats 98 Mk I.

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGSU) and OCEA (France) have inked a contract for the manufacture of 20 patrol boats under the Framework Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the French Republic on official support for strengthening maritime security and defense of Ukraine.
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OCEA’ Fast Patrol Boat 98 Mk I (Picture source: Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine for the State Border Service of Ukraine)

The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov. At the ceremony, it was announced that the first boat should be delivered to the State Border Guard Service in 2021 (it is unclear whether it is French or Nikolayev's), and in general, the program for building five boats at the Nibulon plant is designed for three years.

As a reminder, the framework intergovernmental agreement on the supply of 20 OCEA FPB 98 Mk I patrol boats to the State Border Guard Service (including the construction of five of them with French assistance in Ukraine) was signed by the Ministers of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and France in Paris on November 19, 2019, the Agreement was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada Ukraine March 4, 2020.

The contract value is € 136.5 million. It includes « partial financing from loans from both commercial banks and from the Treasury loan of the Ministry of Finance of France. The loan is provided by the state of France. Ukraine will 15% from the budget, while the remaining 85% will be provided by the loan, » the Minister of Internal Affairs explained.

OCEA’ Fast Patrol Boat 98 Mk I (Picture source: Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine for the State Border Service of Ukraine)

OCEA’ FPB 98 is 32 meters long and features an effective range of 1,200 Nm at the speed of 12 knots. Its wide range of missions includes territorial and deep-sea surveillance operations, smuggling and illegal immigration control, SAR, or natural resources and blue economy protection.

The French shipyard has sold a number of FPB 98 ships around the world, including to Benin, Suriname and Nigeria. Algeria recently started taking delivery of an additional batch of 10 boats after having received 21 FPB 98 vessels between 2008 and 2012.