Off-shore patrol vessels unveiled

OFFSHORE Patrol Vessels (OPVs) form the vanguard of an elite class of maritime vessels which provide invaluable border security to many countries worldwide.

In delivering the 2003/2004 Budget in Parliament last Monday, Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced the acquisition of two OPVs in order to boost Trinidad and Tobago’s border security mechanisms. According to information from the Israel Armament Development Authority Ltd (RAFAEL), the modern OPV “plays an increasingly major role in the naval arena” which includes a diverse range of peacetime (control of territorial waters, monitoring commercial marine traffic) and crisis/wartime (anti-terrorism, surface warfare) missions. RAFAEL is a world leader in the development and production of advanced weapon systems for some of the world’s leading naval, air and ground forces and has annual sales exceeding US$600 million. Among the armed forces which rely heavily on OPVs as part of their fleet is Britain’s Royal Navy (RN). Seven Island Class OPVs were built for the RN between 1975 and 1979 “and have since formed the backbone of the Fishery Protection Squadron.”