The first Police Patrol Craft being built for the UK Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) and the Gibraltar Ministry of Defence Police (GDP), has officially been launched on to the River Mersey and will undertake trials.
Awarded in March 2021, The Police Patrol Craft (PPC) contract is a six-year programme that will see delivery of eighteen state-of-the-art patrol craft to various Police units around the UK and Gibraltar. The Patrol Craft will be used to ensure protection of major Royal Naval Assets, including capital ships and submarines, as well as installations in and around UK dockyard ports, Gibraltar Naval Base, and wherever else necessary.
The launch of the first craft is a major milestone coming some 18 months after contract award. The first part of the contract has seen the craft design being completed by MST’s design partners BMT who carried out the vessel design, with the build of the craft being completed at MST’s new shipyard facility on the Wirral.
After a successful setting to work phase, the craft was launched on to the River Mersey from MST’s slipway in Bromborough and will now go through several weeks of trials before being presented to MoD Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) for acceptance. In the early part of the first craft’s life, it will primarily be used as an educational platform, firstly for MST to provide training to the MDP Training Team. From here, MDP Trainers will then be able to provide high-level guidance and support to officers who will crew and operate each craft that enters service.
Craft 1, named Osprey, will be closely followed by a new sister craft on a rolling 3-month programme, with the second craft anticipated to be delivered in the early part of 2023.
Andrew Phillips, Technical Director for Marine Specialised Technology Group, said: “Building on the successful partnership established during the design and build of the Royal Navy’s ‘Cutlass Class’ vessels, the HPB-1500 is a fantastic addition to MST’s High-Speed Patrol Boat (HPB) model range portfolio.
MST & BMT design and engineering teams worked closely ensuring that the HPB DNA flowed throughout this new design, resulting in a technologically advanced craft, from hull construction to the capable on board C4iSR systems. All a testament to the skills and expertise this exciting partnership brings to the patrol boat market.”
Martin Bissuel, Business Sector Lead at BMT Specialised Ship Design commented: ”The first launch is a very important milestone in this programme. It is the result of many months of hard work, innovation, and close cooperation between the BMT and MST teams to design and build a vessel that will offer outstanding capability to the users. We look forward to supporting the build of the rest of the fleet, both from a vessel design point of view as well as providing the ILS elements which are so critical to the required high levels of in-service availability required.”
