US wants to provide Ukraine with patrol boats of type Mk VI.

Members of Congress have been informally notified of the Defense Department's plans to provide $125 million in new military assistance to Ukraine, including armed patrol boats, according to a congressional aide and US official. This is the first half of the $250 million in Ukraine Security Assistance that has been appropriated by Congress.

Guards patrol boat type Mk VI of the U.S. Navy Guam (Picture source: U.S. Navy)

Reports in Ukrainian media claim that the US allegedly plans to supply Ukraine with only 12 Mk VI missile boats, which should be part of the Ukrainian naval forces on the Sea of ​​Azov, with some of these boats supposedly armed with Hellfire missile launchers.

First introduced to the US Navy in 2015, the Mark VI patrol boat is intended for coastal and riverine operations. It has modern weapons and is meant to operate mostly in shallow waters.

Mk VI missile boats were developed and are being built by the American shipbuilding company SAFE Boats International in Bremerton since 2014 for the coastal guard of the U.S. Navy; in total, the U.S. fleet received 12 Mk VI missile boats between 2015-2018, and the general plans for their purchases by the U.S. fleet make up 48 units.

The all-aluminum MK VI missile boat type has a total displacement of 72 tons, a length of 25.8 m, a width of 6.2 m and a draft of 1.2 m.

It is equipped with two MTU 16V2000M94 diesel engines with a total capacity of 5200 hp, with two water cannons and is capable of speeds up to 45 knots. Cruising range 690 miles at a speed of 30 knots. The crew of the boat is 10-11 people, and another seven or eight are able to accommodate additionally.

The standard armament of the boat is two 25-mm automatic remotely controlled Mk 38 Mod 2 units and six 12.7 mm M2 machine guns on turret installations.

The Mk 50 fire control system is actually a ship’s version of the land-based remote-control module fire control system for the M153 CROWS armored vehicles. It is currently into consideration whether to equip the missile boats with small-sized rockets VGM-176V Griffin or Hellfire.