Riverine FAC of the Myanmar Navy (all photos : Myanmar Defence Review)
Riverine Fast Attack Craft is a patrol boat designed and built by the Myanmar Navy. The ship measures 18 metres long with a beam of 4.4 metres and a draught of just 0.8 metre. The ship is light weight, shallow draught, and its water jets allow it to operate at speeds of up to 50 kmh.
The designed of the ship is believed to be inspired by the Super Dvora Mk3 and CB-90.
The Riverine Fast Attack Craft is specifically designed to meet the requirements of the riverine operations of the Myanmar Navy and it incorporated a number of innovative technologies.
The water jets allow the ship to operate at high speed in shallow waters and it can execute extremely sharp turns at high speed, decelerate from top speed to a full stop in a short distance.
The ship also uses the glass cockpit system which displays all the information in the multi‐function touchscreen displays.
The superstructure of the ship is covered with armour plates for better protection and the ship also carries 14 fully armed infantry squad inside the protected hull.
The ship is equipped with locally developed 14.5 mm RCWS (remote controlled weapon station) with the day/night electro optical device.
Apart from the fully stabilized 14.5 mm RCWS, the ship is also equipped with three 7.62 mm medium machine guns. However these 7.62 mm machine guns are interchangeable with other weapon system s such as .5 caliber machine guns, grenade launchers and even the infantry mortars.
Myanmar Navy intended to mass-produce the Riverine Fast Attack Craft and the Naval Dockyard can built 2-4 hips every years.
(MDR)