Littoral Manoeuvre Craft contract goes to Tasmanian company

Hobart-based PFG has been awarded the contract to deliver the Royal New Zealand Navy’s Littoral Manoeuvre Craft in what is being lauded as a major boost for Tasmania’s defence industry.

Boat builder PFG has announced it has secured a contract with the New Zealand Defence Force to design and construct three 12.6 metre, high-speed Littoral Manoeuvre Craft (LMC) to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). The project is valued at approximately $6 million.

The watercraft, based on PFG’s ‘Sentinel’ design, will be fully constructed from next-generation boat building material, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). It is the company’s first major foray into the defence arena.

Jeremy Rockliff, Tasmania’s Minister for Advanced Manufacturing and Defence Industries has described the win as a “triumph for our worldclass advanced manufacturing industry,” stating “Tasmania’s Sentinel further boosts [the state’s] defence industry capability.”

‘The Sentinel’ is described as the latest generation of fast, sophisticated, and impressively durable sea boats, heralding a step change in tactical watercraft capability.

The initial three Sentinels on order are set to increase the RNZN’s capabilities in expeditionary reconnaissance, mine counter measures, ship to shore and inter-island transport, as well as logistic material transfer operations.

“Following in the ANZAC tradition, it is fantastic to have one of our most innovative Tasmanian companies working so closely with our cross-Tasman neighbours in defencerelated activity,” stated Minister Rockliff.

Developed over 25 years, there are more than 100 custom-built Sentinel vessels already in operation with law enforcement and emergency response organisations, including Tasmania Police, Queensland Police and the Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

The Advanced Manufacturing and Defence Industries Minister took the opportunity to highlight the state government’s support for the growth of the sector.

“Our Tasmanian Defence Industry Strategy was designed to increase opportunities for Tasmanian businesses in the defence sector, and contracts like this one between PFG and the New Zealand Government clearly shows our combined efforts are working,” he stated in a media release.

“That’s why we are providing an additional $10 million over four years to support advanced manufacturing and defence industries to collaborate, innovate, commercialise and scale up to create jobs and further opportunities for Tasmanian businesses.”

PFG is a family owned Australian owned company with over forty years history as a multi-platform technology focussed manufacturing business in the maritime industry. With manufacturing facilities in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, PFG distributes Australian designed and manufactured products globally.

Designed by naval architects One2three, there are over 100 Sentinel vessels in current operations and they are available up to 15 metres in length in various configurations including inboard or outboard propulsion, hard and soft collars, plate vessels, cabins or consoles, with payload capacity up to 6,000kg.

The Sentinel vessels are manufactured from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), a cost effective, environmentally friendly semicrystalline engineered polymer that demonstrates several properties which rate is as a superior boat building material. They are highly stable, provide superior reliability and availability and transfer low impact to the crew as the HDPE hull absorbs vibration.

Image courtesy of PFG.