On Thursday February 20th , at the NAVDEX peer, the Al Fares, the first of class of the Swift Trooper fast amphibious boats designed and built by Al Fattan, was inaugurated by H.E. Sheikh Saeed bin Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, the Commander of the UAE Naval Forces
“This ship is designed to carry Navy Special Forces detachments,” the ship’s Captain, a young UAE Navy Lieutenant told EDR On-Line. “We can carry 16 SF operators plus one dune buggy,” he added. The 16 troops are hosted in the centre of the boat, with five suspension seats by Shoxs attached to each side of the wall, while six more seats look to the front, three each side of the central aisle.
The crew of four is hosted in the front cabin. From right to left we find the Captain at the helm, the mechanic at his left, who monitors all the ship data on a wide colour display, the moving to the left after the aisle we find the electrician, who controls all the ships plant, and finally the gunner, who is responsible for the Aselsan STAMP remotely controlled weapon station armed with a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun, installed on the cabin roof. Moving forward we find on the armoury, hosting the SF detachment weapons, and on the right the head. At the centre we find a hatch giving access to the front cargo deck, which can host a Maverick X3-MAX off-road vehicle, which width is well under 2 metres and can carry a maximum of four operators.
At stern the Al Fares carries a Zodiac MilPro SF 450, the number indicating the boat length, which is recovered on board thanks to a mechanism designed by Al Fattan. The Zodiac is powered by a 60 hp Mercury SeaPro outboard engine, and is the standard rubber boat in use by the UAE Navy SFs.
Designed for hitting the beach and allow the SF vehicle and operators swiftly disembark, the hull draft is obviously limited, around 1 metre, the bow shape being purposely designed for an easy disengagement. The Swift Trooper 20 metres long overall hull is made of fibre-reinforced plastic, waterline length being 18 metres, while beam is 4.30 metres. Two CAT C18 ACERT inboard marine diesel engines providing an output of 1,136 hp each drive two Hamilton Jet HTX42 waterjets, which allow the Swift Trooper to reach a maximum speed of 40 knots, over 32 knots at full load. The 3,000 litres of fuel allow a range of 300 Nautical Miles at 30 knots.
Apart from the RCWS mounted on the cabin roof, the Swift Trooper is fitted with two pintle-mounted 12.7 mm machine guns right and left, aft of the cabin, while two 12-barrel smoke grenade launchers are installed on the roof, right and left of the RCWS.
The ship is not meant for long endurance missions, hence no bunks are available. According to company information, the Swift Trooper can be fitted in a configuration allowing to carry up to 30 troops and a crew of only two members. The contract filed by the UAE MoD to Al Fattah is for 20 such ship, final delivery being planned for late 2027.
In the mean time the shipyard has delivered the 35th of the 40 18 metres Inland Patrol Boats on order.
Photos by P. Valpolini