The following is text of a news release from Ribcraft:
(MARBLEHEAD, Mass.) — Ribcraft, a leading manufacturer of rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) for law enforcement, safety professionals, and military agencies, announced that the United States Navy has awarded a five-year indefinite quantity contract worth up to $43 million.
Under the contract, Ribcraft will build and deliver an estimated 48 of the 11-meter expeditionary mine countermeasure boat. Ribcraft has also been providing the U.S. Navy with 7-meter shipboard RHIBs since 2014.
A critical component of the Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures Company, the 11-meter RHIBs will serve to support explosive ordinance disposal mine countermeasure platoons in both shallow and deep water operations. To achieve this, Ribcraft will build two configurations for mine countermeasure 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, with an overall length of 39 feet, will be equipped with twin Cummins QSB-6.7 473-hp diesel engines, twin HamiltonJet 292 waterjets, and Shockwave shock mitigating seating for improved crew comfort in all conditions. A critical operational requirement for these boats is that they must be transportable around the world by land, air or sea and be able to be readily deployed from a variety of U.S. Navy ship classes.
