Sea Keeper shows composites capability
The marine demonstration area is also being used by ADSB to launch the 16m Sea Keeper fast landing craft – the first product to have emerged from the company’s new composites manufacturing facility.
Designed by ADSB’s strategic partner VT Halmatic of the UK, Sea Keeper is a versatile high-speed craft intended for the rapid resupply of vehicles and equipment.
A bow ramp allows access for vehicles and other cargo, with a load capacity of up to 8.5 tonnes. The entire structure below decks is fitted with marine buoyancy foam, rendering the craft “virtually unsinkable”, said ADSB. Powered by twin Yanmar 6CXM-GTE2 marine diesel engines, driving Rolls-Royce FF375S waterjets, Sea Keeper is able to achieve a maximum speed in excess of 35 knots. The use of waterjets also makes the vessel highly manoeuvrable at all speeds, with the added advantage of safe shallow water operation.
ADSB said the production of Sea Keeper represented a significant step forward in the development of the company’s manufacturing capability, “by adding composites to our already well established steel and aluminium production”. So far, it has built a single demonstrator vessel, but it is looking to secure orders in the next few months to take the Sea Keeper design into series production.
ADSB’s composites facility, the largest of its kind in the Middle East, was formally opened last year. The 4,400m2 workshop is able to build composites vessels up to 50m in length.
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