Another country has begun procuring ships similar to my proposal for “Cutter X.” In this case it is four vessels for the Sultanate of Oman. The program is already well underway. Naval Technology reports two of the four ships have already been accepted and the remaining two should be delivered by the third quarter of 2016. Total cost was reportedly approximately $700M.

It appears that this class may have provided the basis for the design of Singapore’s slightly larger “Littoral Mission Vessel,” (LMV) we talked about earlier, the first of which was launched in July.)

These ships are intended to replace four much smaller 25 meter (82 foot) Al Seeb class patrol boats. In fact it appears that they will receive the names of the vessels they replace.

Power is two 20V8000 MTU diesels, providing roughly 24,000 HP, for a max speed of 25 knots. Endurance is reportedly 14 days with a range of 3,000 miles at 16 knots which should give a range of about 4,500 miles at a slower speed of 10-12 knots.

Armament is an Oto Melara 76mm and two Oto Melara 30mm remotely controlled machine guns.

A clear view of the ships mast, bridge, and electronics can be seen here.

Dimensions:

• Length, 75 m (246 ft) (overall); 72 meters (236.2) (waterline)
• Beam: 10.8 m (35.4 ft)
• Draught: 3.3 m (10.8 ft)
• Displacement: 1,250 tons