The Al-Uboor class is a class of

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...

s of the

Iraqi Navy The Iraqi Naval Forces (Arabic: القوات البحرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed forces of Iraq. Formed in 1937, initially as the ''Iraqi Coastal Defense Force,'' its primary resp ...

Acquisition

On 17 February 2005 a contract was signed for six new

ships to be built in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and in support of the local

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

economy. The first of the ships, called the ''Al Uboor''-class patrol boats, was to enter service in six months with the last of them hitting the water 18 months from the signing. Construction had begun before Operation Iraqi Freedom, but the new contract saw the ships completed to a revised design. Funded by the

Interim Iraqi Government The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the drafting of the new constitution following the National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005. T ...

's 2005 defense budget, they cost approximately $15 million. The ships will patrol Iraqi

territorial waters The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potent ...

. Completing the contracts and continuing the construction of the ships is the first example of joint planning by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense Policy and Requirements office and military staffs. It will also enable the coalition maritime presence in the Northern

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

to be reduced making a number of naval units available for other tasking, Iraqi officials said.

External links

Naval ships of Iraq Patrol boats {{Iraq-stub