U.S., Italian Shipyards in Lead To Build New Iraqi Navy

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2016990&C=mideast

U.S., Italian Shipyards in Lead To Build New Iraqi Navy

U.S. and Italian shipyards are favored to win tenders to build 19 ships and patrol boats for the fledgling Iraqi navy to enable it to take over security of Iraq’s vital off-shore oil terminals, a naval official said.

Commodore Thamir Nasser said 15 patrol boats, four corvettes and two off-shore support vessels would be bought under a two-year equipment acquisition program that would boost the navy’s ability to protect the platforms from terrorist attack.

"I have heard a U.S. shipyard that builds the U.S. Coast Guard vessels and an Italian company will build the boats," the Iraqi Navy’s head of operations told Reuters, referring to the patrol boats and corvettes. He put no value on the tenders.
"By 2008/2009 we will be in a position to take control of maritime security," he said.

The Iraqi Navy is critically short of seaworthy ships to patrol potential terrorist targets such as the Basra Oil Terminal and its smaller sister Khor al-Amaya terminal. Iraq has the world’s third largest reserves of oil.