JUST IN: Mark VI Riverine Boats Remain in Limbo
2/10/2022
By Stew Magnuson
A small fleet of 12 sidelined patrol boats will remain in limbo as the Navy and Congress decide their ultimate fate, a senior service official said Feb. 10.
“The plan for the Mark VI patrol boat is continuing to be kind of worked through with our leadership and Capitol Hill,” Rear Adm. Joseph DiGuardo Jr., Navy Expeditionary Combat Command commander, said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Virtual Expeditionary Warfare Conference.
The Mark VI is a nearly 85-foot long patrol boat intended for operations on rivers and close to shore. It is transportable on amphibious ship docks and can carry eight personnel along with 10 crew members.
While there were plans to acquire up to 48 patrol boats, only 12 were delivered, and the Navy in early 2021 announced plans to divest itself of the dozen Mark VI boats operated by Expeditionary Combat Command after only about six years of operations. Navy and Marine Corps leaders said at an industry conference last year that they were expensive to maintain and not being used widely. The Navy later rescinded its decision pending the outcome of the Biden administration’s 2022 budget, the Naval News website reported last May.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/2/10/mark-vi-riverine-boats-remain-in-state-of-limbo
