In another move to help revive Ukraine’s navy, the United States government has placed an order to produce six Mark VI patrol boats to give to Kyiv.
As the U.S. Department of Defense reported on Sept. 30, the $84.2 million contract was secured by SAFE Boats International, a dockyard based in Bremerton, Washington. The company will be responsible for the vessels’ “design, construction, outfitting, reactivation,” as well as crew training.
The boats should be completed by March 2026. The Pentagon has the option to order two more Mark VIs.
According to the report, Ukraine will get the vessels under Building Partner Capacity (BPC) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programs run by the U.S. government.
In late 2020, SAFE Boats International received a government contract to build two Mark VIs worth $19.9 million, also meant to aid Ukraine.
The first batch is expected to be completed by December 2022.
In total, the U.S. Department of State agreed in June 2020 to provide Ukraine with 16 Mark VIs for $600 million. Ukraine can get the first six vessels for free, with an option to buy the remaining 10.
Mark VIs are expected to join Ukraine’s navy as littoral water patrol vessels in the Black and Azov seas, which have seen increasingly aggressive Russian expansion in recent years.
