Metal Shark lands additional USCG order for RB-S II boats

The US Coast Guard placed a delivery order on Feb. 4 for 20 response boats-small II (RB-S IIs), worth approximately $8.5 million, with Metal Shark Boats of Jeanerette, Louisiana, the service said on Feb. 15, 2019.
A USCG RB-S II boat (Credit: US Coast Guard)
The US Coast Guard placed a delivery order on Feb. 4 for 20 response boats-small II (RB-S IIs), worth approximately $8.5 million, with Metal Shark Boats of Jeanerette, Louisiana, the service said on Feb. 15, 2019.
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The boats are targeted for delivery starting in May and extending through September; they will be stationed throughout the country in Great Lakes, East, West and Gulf Coast locations. 

This brings the total of RB-S IIs ordered to 370; 339 RB-S IIs have been delivered. 

Before launching the RB-S II program, the US Coast Guard was operating more than 400 Defender-class RB-S boats, making it the largest vessel class in the Coast Guard fleet. The RB-S II, designed with an increased emphasis on function and crew comfort, is gradually replacing the Defender-class RB-S as the older assets reach the end of their service life.

The 29-foot new boats can reach a top speed of over 40 knots. They are being fitted with State-of-the-art shock-mitigating seats, Fore and aft gun mounts with a forward shock-mitigating gunners seat, and two NAVNET 3D displays for secondary navigation

The RB-S II is a multi-mission platform, used for the full range of Coast Guard missions, including: search and rescue; vessel boarding team deployment and law enforcement missions; port security; drug and migrant interdiction and environmental response operations.

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