The Nigerian Navy recently received several rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs) from the United Arab Emirates’ ASIS Boats, and is using them from Nigerian Navy ships.
In mid-2022 it emerged that ASIS Boats was preparing to deliver four RHIBs to Nigeria, and last month ASIS Boats announced that these had been supplied in response to a Nigerian requirement for boats that could be carried and deployed by its naval ships.
The boats, which reached their destination on 24 August, will support a variety of missions, including anti-terrorism, search and rescue, vessel boarding search and seizure, and maritime interdiction operations.
One of the supplied RHIBs is featuring ASIS’s GRP air-hull, a patented GRP hull design, and is 6.5 metres long, while the other three are aluminium-hulled boats 7.6 metres in length and configured with a walk-around double Futura Console with a forward seat; four straddle seats; and capacity for up to eight passengers. Twin 150 hp outboard engines give a top speed of 86 km/h.
It is not clear which ships the Nigerian Navy will use the RHIBs from, but there are a number of possibilities, including the newly delivered tank landing ship NNS Kada, and hydrographic survey ship NNS Lana. ASIS is expected to deliver more RHIBs to the Nigerian Navy in 2023.
Headquartered in the USA and the UAE, ASIS Boats designs and manufactures rigid hull inflatable boats and inflatables for law enforcement, search and rescue, military and other roles, with a target market of the US, Europe, Africa, the Far East, South America and the Middle East. The company was founded in 2006 as a turnkey service provider.
Its GRP military boat range is offered in lengths from 4 to 12 metres while its aluminium range is from 7 to 12.5 metres and its fully inflatables range from 2.8 to 6 metres in length. They are manufactured at ASIS Boats’ 11 000 square metre ISO 9001, 14001, and 18001 certified facility.
All the boats are built under the prevailing highest international standards whether for the European of American market, ASIS Boats said. Dyneema ballistic protection panels can be fitted to the company’s boats for the protection of critical vessel and crew areas and weapon system mounts can be integrated.
ASIS Boats lists customers in 80 countries around the world. Military customers include the Brazilian Armed Forces, Royal Brunei Police Force, Portugal Maritime Police, Mauritius National Coast Guard, Bahrain Defence Force, Romanian Naval Forces, Seychelles Coast Guard, Spanish Navy, Tanzanian Naval Command, DRC Republican Guard, Bangladesh Navy, Lebanon Internal Security Forces, Maryland Police, Kenyan Navy, and US Navy.
