Austal Australia has been awarded a contract extension for the construction of two additional Evolved Cape-class patrol boats for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
The AU$157 million (US$103.4 million) contract covers the construction and delivery of the ninth and tenth boats in the Evolved Cape-class.
Like their earlier sisters, the vessels will each have an aluminium hull, a length of 58 metres, and accommodations for 32 crewmembers and other personnel. Armament will include two pintle-mounted 12.7mm machine guns.
Austal said the vessels will be built with a number of enhancements over the baseline Cape-class patrol boats, improving operational capability and crew capacity compared to the vessels already operated by the RAN and the Australian Border Force.