Papua New Guinea receives second Guardian-class patrol boat from Australia

The PNGDF patrol boat, to be named HMPNGS Rochus Lokinap (402). Photo c/o Austal.

Australian shipbuilder Austal has delivered the ninth Guardian-class patrol boat to the Australian Department of Defence (DOD), which in turn was handed-over to the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF).

The boat, which will be named the HMPNGS Rochus Lokinap (402), and will be the PNGDF’s second Guardian-class patrol boat provided by the Australian government. The vessel is named after Brigadier General Rochus Lokinap, former Commander of the PNGDF from 1987 to 1992.

A certificate signing ceremony was held at Austal’s Henderson shipyard in  Western Australia, attended by Western Australia’s Senior Military Officer Air Commodore Fiona Dowse, and the future captain of the HMPNGS Rochus Lokinap, Sub Lieutenant Terrence Mugugia.

Under the Australian government’s Pacifc Patrol Boat Replacement (PPB-R) Project, the Australian government will deliver 21 new Guardian-class patrol boats worth A$335 million to 12 Pacific nations including Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Micronesia, Tonga, Somolon Islands, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Samoa, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Timor Leste by 2023.

Papua New Guinea is scheduled to receive 4 new boats.

These boats would be used for border patrols and policing, search and rescue, and other missions to support of the recipient governments. 

The project not only improves the maritime security capability of the said nations, but also allows the creating of 200 direct jobs and 200 indirect jobs within Australia.

The Guardian-class are steel-hulled monohull patrol boats that made extensive use of commercial off the shelf parts for easy maintenance. They have a length of 39.5 meters, a beam of 8 meters, and draft of 2.5 meters.

The boats are powered by two Caterpillar 3516C diesel engines allowing a speed of more than 20 knots, and a range of 3,000 nautical miles at 12 knots.




[1] Austal
[2] Naval Technology