RFNS ''Kikau'' (202) is a

Pacific Forum patrol boat The Pacific class (also known as the Pacific Forum classToppan & Walsh, ''World Navies Today: Other Asia-Pacific Navies'' and the ASI 315 class) is a class of 22 patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. The ...

operated by

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. She was designed and built by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Australia agreed to provide twenty-two patrol boats to twelve of its neighbours and fellow members of the Pacific Forum, after the recently concluded

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 167 c ...

extended maritime nations' exclusive economic zone to . Australia provided two other patrol vessels to Fiji, and . Australia also provided training and infrastructure.

Operational history

Although Australia designed the vessels using

commercial off-the-shelf Commercial off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...

components, so smaller countries, like Fiji, would find them easier to maintain, Fiji found the vessels hard to maintain, and there were periods where only ''Kula'' remained operational. ''Kikau'' completed an extensive refit at

Cairns, Australia Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

on July 25, 2018.

Replacement

Australia started building 21 larger and more capable replacement vessels in 2017. Fiji is scheduled to receive two new vessels. ''Kikau'' is expected to remain in service until 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kikau (202) Ships of the Fijian Navy Pacific Forum class patrol vessels 1995 ships