TUNIS, Tunisia - The Tunisian National Guard and Navy have almost finished taking delivery of 12 patrol boats donated by the Italian government. The new acquisitions will help curb the flow of immigrants from North Africa.
Following a massive influx of African immigrants landing on Italian shores after launching from Tunisian ports, an inter-governmental deal signed in April 2011 in which the Italian government pledged to build and supply patrol boats to Tunisia for use in border control and anti-immigration patrols.
Italy is supplying six P270TN patrol boats for the Tunisian Navy and six P350TNs for the National Guard, all of them built by Cantiere Naval Vittoria (CNV) in Adria.
Five P350TNs and three P270TNs have been delivered so far, with the first being supplied in December 2012. Another two P270TNs will be delivered by October while the remaining P350TN and P270TN will be delivered by February 2015.
The 'Patrouilleur Class' P350TN patrol boats are based on the P350 project design used by the Libyan Coast Guard. With a 140-ton full displacement, a 35 m length, and a 7.2 m beam, the new patrol vessels are built of aluminum and feature a propulsion system based on two shafts, with one 3120 kW MTU 16V4000 M93 diesel engine and two Rolls-Royce Kamewa 63 S3 NP hydrojets, offering a maximum speed of over 38 knots, a range of 600 nautical miles and an endurance of five to six days.
The P270TN model has a length of 27 m, a beam of 7.2 m, a full-load displacement of around 90 tons, and a crew of 14. It is propelled by a waterjet propulsion system using a Kamewa Rolls-Royce 40A3 and two Kamewa Rolls-Royce 50A3 waterjets, each driven by an MTU 12V2000M84 engine giving a range of 500 nautical miles.
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