On June 28, 2022, the American boat-building company Metal Shark (Louisiana) confirmed that as part of the next package of military assistance to Ukraine announced by the US government on June 23 with a total cost of $ 450 million, six new 40-foot (actual length 13.3 m) small patrol boats of the Defiant type built by Metal Shark will be transferred to Ukraine from the US Navy. In addition, Metal Shark reported that it is building 17 more small patrol boats of three different types with aluminum hulls for the supply of the Ukrainian Navy as part of American military assistance programs launched before the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
38-foot small patrol boat of the Defiant type in the version with a closed cabin built by the American company Metal Shark (c) Metal Shark
These 17 boats under construction for Ukraine include ten 38-foot small guard boats of the Defiant type in the version with a closed cabin, four 38-foot small guard boats of the Defiant type in the version without a closed cabin ("with a central console") and three 36-foot interceptor boats of the Fearless type. They are being built at Metal Shark's facilities in Franklin and Jeanerette (Louisiana), and the company said it would "begin shipping these boats immediately."
As you can understand, the project of building these small boats for Ukraine at the expense of American military assistance programs was launched in 2019, but as a result, the boats were only started construction by the beginning of 2022. Henry Irizarry, Vice President of International Business Development at Metal Shark, said: "Metal Shark has been working closely with the US Embassy in Kiev since 2019 to develop a strategy currently being implemented to support Ukraine's naval potential, so it's nice to see that these boats arrive exactly when they are most needed."
38-foot (12-meter) boats of the Defiant type are one of the most top-end and mass-produced Metal Shark products, being built for civilian, government and military customers since the late 1980s. These boats are built in variants with and without a closed cabin and are equipped as standard with two Cummins diesel engines with a volume of 6.7 liters (although it is possible to use engines from other manufacturers, including outboard ones) and two Hamilton 292 water cannons, full speed in the basic version up to 40 knots, and with more powerful engines - up to 50 knots.
36-foot (11.2-meter) interceptor boats of the Fearless type do not have a closed wheelhouse and are equipped with three Yamaha or Mercury Verado outboard motors with a capacity of 300 hp, full speed up to 55-60 knots.
As for the 40-foot small patrol boats of the Defiant type planned to be transferred to Ukraine from the presence of the US Navy, the press representative of the Naval Systems Command (NAVSEA) The US Navy Jamie Kohler, in an interview with the online publication "Naval News" , said that to date, the US Navy has ordered 56 of these boats, officially designated as 40-foot Patrol Boat (40PB), to Metal Shark, and by May 9, 2022 received 20 boats.
36-foot interceptor boat of the Fearless type built by the American company Metal Shark (c) Metal Shark
One of the prototypes of the new 40-foot small patrol boat type Defiant (40RV) company Metal Shark, built for the U.S. Navy (c) Metal Shark
