Ribcraft announced that the United States Navy (USN) has awarded a five-year indefinite quantity contract worth up to $43 million to build and deliver an estimated 48 of the 11-Meter Expeditionary Mine Counter Measure Boat. Ribcraft has also been providing the U.S. Navy with 7-Meter shipboard RIBs since 2014.
The 11-Meter RIBs will serve to support explosive ordinance disposal mine counter measure platoons in both shallow and deep water operations.
To achieve this, Ribcraft will build two configurations for mine counter measure operations; one with an open aft deck for stowage and deployment of two combat rubber raiding craft and the other featuring a launch, recover, and handling system for deployment and retrieval of an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) which will have the capability to launch, recover and handle two UUVs using a single davit.
Each vessel 39-ft. boat will be equipped with twin Cummins QSB-6.7 473 HP diesel engines, twin Hamilton Jet 292 water jets, and Shockwave shock mitigating seating for improved crew comfort in all conditions. The boats are transportable globally by land, air or sea and be able to be readily deployed from a variety of USN ship classes.