NEWTOWN, Conn. - Airbus Defense and Space satellite imagery has confirmed that Cameroon has taken delivery of the two patrol vessels that were completed in China last year.
The January 23 imagery shows two 64 meter vessels docked in the commercial area of Duala, rather than at the existing naval base, which will struggle to accommodate the new vessels.
It emerged that the two vessels were being built for Cameroon when the Journal du Cameroun newspaper reported on April 24, 2014 that Defense Minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o had inspected the progress of the crafts during a trip to the Chinese city of Qingdao. The story was accompanied by a photograph showing the Cameroonian delegation standing on the foredeck of a ship armed with a 76mm PJ26 (the Chinese version of the AK-176) multipurpose gun.
Journal du Cameroun said the ships were being built under a contract signed with the Chinese company Poly Technologies in October 2013 and that the project was at least partly funded by the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China. Since, no further details have been released about the new vessels and it has remained unclear when they were delivered.
The Cameroon Navy has been slowly bracing for the challenges presented in the country's maritime waters, including piracy, terrorism, and all forms of trafficking and looting by revitalizing its somewhat aging patrol fleet in recent years.
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