Construction to begin on new Colombian Navy River Support Patrol Boat

The Colombian shipyard Cotecmar is scheduled in January 2022 to start construction of a new Light River Support Patrol for the Colombian Navy. (Colombian Navy)

The Colombian shipyard Cotecmar is scheduled in January 2022 to start construction of a new Light River Support Patrol (PAF-L) for the Colombian Navy (Armada Nacional de la República de Colombia: ARC), which will use the vessel to reinforce its anti-drug and anti-terrorist operations in small rivers, according to the navy.

Cotecmar will manufacture the patrol boat at its facilities located in the port of Cartagena de Indias for an estimated cost of about USD9.7 million. The vessel is scheduled to be delivered in July 2022.

The PAF-Ls are armoured vessels, designed by Cotecmar, with a length of 30 m, a beam of 7 m, and a maximum load draft of 1 m. They have an endurance of up to 12 days, which gives them a range of up to 843 n miles at speeds of up to 9.6 kt.

The new patrol boat will be able to support 43 personnel, including officers, crew members, and marines.

The vessel features the Scorpion weapon system that integrates two 12.7×99 mm Browning M2HB type machine guns and another two 7.62×51 mm M-60E4 – or MK 43 – machine guns.