Category Archives: Foreign Military Sales

Two Former USCG Island Class Cutters Commissioned into Tunisian Navy

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U.S. Transfers Two 34m Patrol Boats to Tunisia During Visit
Sailors, officials, dignitaries and guests pose for a group photo following the commissioning of two Tunisian Navy Island Class Patrol Boats transferred from the United States in Tunis, Tunisia, April 17, 2025. The ceremony celebrated 220 years of U.S.-Tunisian maritime partnership, with Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) conducting a scheduled port visit in Tunis on the same occasion. (US Navy Photo)

Below is a U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs news release. 

“…the Tunisian Navy conducted a commissioning ceremony for two American 110-foot (34-meter) Island-class Patrol Boats…”

I was unable to find out which cutters they were.

Apparently the 25mm Mk38 was removed prior to the transfer, and replaced by a locally procured weapon.

Tunisia has been active in intercepting immigrants from Africa into Europe.

April 17, 2025

U.S. Transfers Two 34m Patrol Boats to Tunisia During Visit of USS Mount Whitney to Celebrate 220 Years of U.S.-Tunisian Maritime Partnership

TUNIS, Tunisia  –  The Blue Ridge-class command and control ship, USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20), arrived in Tunis, Tunisia, for a scheduled port visit on April 17, to reinforce the enduring partnership between the United States and Tunisia.

On the same occasion, the Tunisian Navy conducted a commissioning ceremony for two American 110-foot (34-meter) Island Class Patrol Boats, which the United States transferred to Tunisia, the latest in a series of U.S. equipment contributions that strengthen Tunisia’s capacity to secure its maritime borders and advance regional security.

As the flagship of U.S. 6th Fleet, Mount Whitney plays a key role in maritime security and cooperation throughout the Mediterranean and African theaters.  The visit underscores the U.S. commitment to regional stability and its enduring strategic partnership with Tunisia, a U.S. major non-NATO Ally.

“The USS Mount Whitney’s visit is especially meaningful because it falls during the 220thanniversary of the 1805 Battle of Derna, when, through the support and cooperation of Tunisia, the U.S. military defeated maritime terrorism to make a more stable and secure region for commerce and economic development,” U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Tunisia Joey Hood said.

During the visit, the ship hosted a reception, welcoming military, diplomatic, and civic leaders from Tunisia.  The event served as a platform to celebrate bilateral cooperation and discuss shared goals in maritime security, regional defense, and future engagements.

The U.S. and Tunisia have worked closely for decades on military training, professional development, and counterterrorism efforts.  This visit by Mount Whitney adds another chapter to the strong legacy of collaboration between the two countries.

“This visit underscores the vital role strong partnerships play in ensuring maritime security,” Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet Vice Adm. J. T. Anderson said. “We are grateful for the opportunity to engage with our Tunisian counterparts and reaffirm our commitment to working together for a more stable and secure Mediterranean.”

Mount Whitney, forward deployed to Gaeta, Italy, operates with a combined crew of U.S. Sailors and Military Sealift Command civil service mariners in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe and Africa. The U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners to advance U.S. national interests, security and stability in Europe and Africa.

What a Former WHEC is Doing Now

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SOUTH CHINA SEA (July 31, 2024) – Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Mobile (LCS 26) conducts a Maritime Cooperative Activity with Philippine Navy’s Gregorio del Pilar-class patrol ship, BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS 16), (former USCGC Dallas), in the South China Sea, July 31, 2024. Mobile, part of Destroyer Squadron 7, is on a rotational deployment operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready-response force in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Naval Aircrewman Tactical Helicopter 2nd Class Diego Chavez)

US Naval Institute News reports,

U.S. and Philippine warships rendezvoused near a disputed South China Sea feature to conduct a joint maritime patrol on Wednesday.

USS Mobile (LCS-26) and BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS-16) met off Leslie Bank, a maritime feature within Manila’s exclusive economic zone and Beijing’s 10-dash line claim. The littoral combat ship and ex-Coast Guard Hamilton-class cutter drilled in bilateral surface operations and communication, with a video released by the Armed Forces of the Philippines claiming that the two vessels took up a patrol formation.

Nice to see the LCS is apparently armed with Naval Strike Missiles.

“Sri Lanka Holds Fleet Review in Trincomalee,” Two Former Coast Guard Cutters Participate

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SLNS Gajabahu (P626) (the former USCGC Sherman), SLNS Sayurala (P623) and SLNS Sindurala (P624) during 2022 Colombo Naval Exercise. SLNS Samudura (P261) (the former USCGC Courageous) also visible in the distance. Photo defence.lk

SeaWaves Magazine reports,

Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the President and Commander – in – Chief of the Armed Forces of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka visited Trincomalee 1st March to review the naval fleet stationed there. Accompanied by Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera, the President inspected the naval fleet, which included a variety of ships. Governor Eastern Province Hon. Senthil Thondaman, State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, Chief of Staff to the President and Senior Adviser to the President on National Security Sagala Ratnayaka, Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne (Ret’d) and Chief of Defence Staff General Shavendra Silva and a group of distinguished invitees were also present on this occasion.

Two of the ships were former US Coast Guard cutters, SLNS Gajabahu (P626) (the former USCGC Sherman, transferred to the Sri Lankan Navy in 2019) and SLNS Samudura (P261) (the former USCGC Courageous, transferred to the Sri Lankan Navy in 2005).

The Sri Lankan Navy includes a third former US Coast Guard cutter, SLNS_Vijayabahu_(P627) (the former USCGC Munro, transferred to the Sri Lankan Navy in 2022).

SLNS-Samudura, the former USCGC Courageous

“Japan to supply 5 countries with free patrol boats to counter China” –Navy Recognition

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Japanese Aso-class patrol vessel Dewa. (Picture source: Japanese government)

Navy Recognition reports,

For 2024, the OSA (Japan’s Official Security Assistance program–Chuck) has earmarked nations such as Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, and Djibouti. Notably, the first three have ongoing maritime disputes with China in the South China Sea…To strengthen its oversight of territorial waters and skies, Japan is considering equipping these nations with patrol boats, radar tech, drones, and communication tools.

While the US has transferred a lot of overage Coast Guard cutters, the Japanese generally supply new ships on very favorable financial terms. This helps maintain Japan’s shipbuilding capacity.

Japan has already supplied the Philippines with two large patrol cutters and ten smaller patrol craft. Japan has an agreement with Vietnam to build six cutters based on the Aso class pictured above. Japan has gifted at least one older cutter to Malaysia. 

It is not clear if the patrol boats mentioned in the title are actually free or if they refer to new or previously arranged programs.

Thanks to Lee for bringing this to my attention. 

“Greece Receives First Island Class Patrol Vessels From The U.S.” –Naval News

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(Since today is the 4th of July) As part of 5th Fleet’s PATFORSWA, crewmembers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Adak (WPB-1333) raised the American flag.  U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Frank Iannazzo-Simmons

Naval News reports that four of the six PATFORSWA 110 foot Island Class WPBs are being transferred to the Greek Navy, and it goes on to speculate they may ultimately get all six.

“The four Island-class boats that will join soon the Greek naval fleet are the former Wrangell (WPB-1332), Adak (WPB-1333), Monomoy (WPB-1326) and Aquidneck (WPB-1309).”

The boats are to be refurbished and are expected to be equipped with a 20mm remote weapon station (RWS), the LIONFISH 20 by Leonardo, new “surveillance radar, electro-optical sensor (Naval News verified that it will be a Miltech Hellas product), communications equipment and machine guns will be installed as well.”

The post notes that former US Coast Guard Island class cutters now also serve with Pakistan (Pakistan Maritime Security Agency), Georgia (Georgian Coast Guard), Costa Rica (Costa Rican Coast Guard), and Ukraine (Ukrainian Navy) in addition to the Greek Navy.

Additional transfers can be expected in the future.

“U.S. Looks To Transfer 4 Patrol Boats To The Philippines” –Naval News

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Ukrainian Navy Island-class patrol boats, formerly of the U.S. Coast Guard, conduct maritime security operations in the Black Sea off the coast of Odesa, Ukraine. UKRAINIAN NAVY

Naval News reports,

“On Monday, the U.S. announced its intention to transfer four patrol boats to the Philippine Navy. The transfer intends to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ modernization plan, specifically the Philippine Navy’s maritime capabilities.”

Note these are to go to the Philippine Navy, not their Coast Guard.

They will be getting two 110 foot (33.5 m) Island class and two 87 foot (26.5 m) Marine Protector class patrol boats.

This may just be the first such transfer. There are still quite a few Island class that may be available for transfer. The Coast Guard 2023 “Asset” poster indicates there were nine Island class cutters still in service when the poster was created. There are probably others that have been decommissioned but have not yet been transferred or otherwise disposed of.

The Marine Protector class now 14 to 25 years old. There is no direct replacement planned for this class but several have been decommissioned as their role has been taken by the 45 foot Response Boat, Medium and the 154 foot Webber WPCs. 

Since these boats are going into the Philippine Navy rather than the Philippine Coast Guard, there is a possibility they may be armed with something larger than .50 cal. (12.7mm) machine guns. The Island class, in US Coast Guard service, were armed with crew served manual early models of the 25mm Mk38 gun mount. It is not clear if the boats will be transferred with their guns in place. When the 378 foot WHECs were transferred to the Philippine Navy, their 25mm Mk38 gun mounts were removed before transfer. The Philippine Navy has 25mm Mk38s of several marks including the remote weapon stations. They also have 20, 30, and 40mm guns that might equip the cutters.

These cutters will have a significant speed advantage over most China Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels. Maximum speeds are 25 knots for the 87 footers and 29 knots for the 110 foot cutters. The Island class also has sufficient range (2,900 nmi (5,400 km) to go anywhere in the South China Sea.

“Last Cyclone Patrol Ships Leave U.S. Navy, Many Will Serve in Foreign Forces” –USNI

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USS thundebolt (PC-12) Seen here in 1998 in both Coast Guard and Navy markings. U.S. Coast Guard photo by David Schuffholz

The US Naval Institute News Service reports the decommissioning and transfer of the last of the Cyclone class US Navy patrol craft. Seven of the class (PCs 1, 2,4, 8, 12, 13, and 14) were loaned to the Coast Guard at various times.

Their departure will leave the six Coast Guard Patrol Force SW Asia Webber class WPCs the only US patrol craft in the 5th Fleet.

Of the 14:

  • Two, Zephyr (PC-8) and Shamal (PC-13), are to be scrapped.
  • Five, Tempest (PC-2), Typhoon (PC-5), Squall (PC-7), Firebolt (PC-10), and Whirlwind (PC-11), have been transferred to the Royal Bahrain Naval Forces.
  • Three, Hurricane (PC-3), Sirocco (PC-6), and Thunderbolt (PC-12), have been transferred to the Egyptian Navy.
  • Two more, Monsoon (PC-4) and Chinook (PC-9), will join the former Cyclone (PC-1) in the Philippine Navy.
  • One, Tornado (PC-14) is expected to be sold, but is awaiting disposition.

“FACT SHEET: U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit in Washington, DC” –The White House, May 12, 2022

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Indonesian Maritime Security Agency vessel KN Tanjung Datu, left, sails alongside U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton during joint exercises in the Singapore Strait in August 2019. IMAGE CREDIT: PO1 LEVI READ/USCG

Below is an excerpt from a May 12, 2022 White House Fact Sheet. Notably there is some significant new tasking for the Coast Guard here.

Here is a link to the “ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific’s Maritime Pillar” referred to in the excerpt. See particularly V. Areas of Cooperation, Maritime Cooperation, paragraphs 14 and 15 on page 3.

Presumably, this is being implemented, at least in part, as a result of NOAA’s “National Five Year Strategy for Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (2022-2026) which designated Vietnam as one of five “Priority States.”

EXPANDING MARITIME COOPERATION

The United States is committed to supporting implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific’s Maritime Pillar. Today we are announcing $60 million in new regional maritime initiatives, most of which will be led by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

  • Personnel and Presence: The USCG will deploy assets and assign additional personnel to the Indo-Pacific to help meet partners’ requests for maritime training and capacity-building, to include a USCG attaché at the U.S. Mission to ASEAN.
  • Countering Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing: The Department of State, Department of Labor, and USCG will launch new initiatives to help ASEAN counties counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and strengthen the capacity of ASEAN sectoral bodies to prevent forced labor in the fishing industry.
  • Indo-Pacific Support Platform: The USCG will deploy a cutter to Southeast Asia and Oceania for security cooperation and to operate as a training platform. This cutter will deploy throughout the region providing multinational crewing opportunities, conduct training missions, and participate in cooperative maritime engagements.
  • Excess Defense Articles: As USCG decommissions cutters, the service will prioritize the transfer of ships to Southeast Asian countries to increase the coastal nations’ maritime law enforcement capacity and promote a free and open Pacific.
  • Southeast Asia Training Team: The Department of State and USCG will expand USCG support to maritime law enforcement agencies in Southeast Asia by placing a training team in the region for the first time with additional dedicated support from U.S.-based trainers. These technical experts will provide capacity-building for the regional partners’ maritime law enforcement agencies in the areas of institutional development, readiness, sustainment of equipment, and workforce professionalization.
  • Emergency Training: The USCG and the Department of State will provide new trainings on energy safeguards, protection of critical maritime infrastructure, and all-hazards response.

“U.S. Navy’s New 40-Foot Defiant Patrol Boat” –Naval News, Plus FMS Patrol Boat

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The 40PB shows its speed in this photo and is armed with a .50cal M2 heavy machine gun at the bow, 7.62mm miniguns and acoustic devices amidships, and a M240B at the stern. The radar, electro-optical camera, and FLIR are visible on the short mast above the cabin. Metal Shark photo.

Naval News brings us a bit more informaton about the Navy’s new 40 foot force protection patrol boat. Most significantly,

NAVSEA: A total of 56 [40-foot Patrol] boats have been awarded to Metal Shark Boats and as of 9 May 2022, 20 boats have been delivered to the U.S. Navy.

In 2017 we discussed the program here and revisited it in 2019 here. The last indicated boats were being delivered at a rate of one every four weeks, meaning Metal Shark will likely be building these boats through early 2025.

Metal Shark calls this model the “40 Defiant” although it is actually 44 foot. Their description is here.

The 85-foot Defiant-class Near Coastal Patrol Vessel (NCPV) is being acquired by NAVSEA for Foreign Military Sales. Metal Shark photo.

There is also a some discussion of the Metal Shark “85 Defiant” patrol boat that is being produced for Foreign Military Sales. This is an evolution of the same design that gave the US Coast Guard its 87 foot “Marine Protector” WPBs (it too is actually 87 foot loa). The Navy calls this class Near Coastal Patrol Vessels or NCPV. We discussed this class in 2017. We noted at the time that Metal Shark had been award a contract,

“…potentially worth upwards of $54 million, Metal Shark will build up to thirteen 85-foot Defiant-class welded aluminum cutters for the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and other United States partner nations. Additionally, Metal Shark will supply electro-optical infrared sensors, diagnostic equipment, in-country reactivation, crew familiarization, and test support to NCPV operators.

Metal Shark’s website has a description of the vessel here.

“SELECTION OF THE DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR (DCO-I)” –News Release

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Looks like more evidence of the Coast Guard’s increasing role in international affairs and foreign military sales.

“Ms. Haverstick led and completed extraordinary projects valued at over $25B between international partners, the White House, interagency, and military departments for advanced technology acquisitions.”

That sounds pretty heavy weight.

united states coast guard

R 211444Z APR 22 MID200001687843U
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC
TO ALCOAST
BT
UNCLAS
ALCOAST 144/22
SSIC 12920
SUBJ: SELECTION OF THE DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND
FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR (DCO-I)
1. I am pleased to announce the selection of Ms. Holly Haverstick
as the Coast Guard’s Director of International Affairs and Foreign
Policy Advisor.
2. This position serves as the Coast Guard’s key policy advisor on
the complete range of international affairs and engagement
activities. The Director is responsible for developing,
coordinating, and implementing agency strategy, policies, and
programs related to the Coast Guard’s international activities.
In addition, the Director serves as the Executive Agent for the
International Affairs Executive Steering Group (IAESG), which
develops recommended strategies, policies, and direction
regarding the Agency’s international engagement.
3. Ms. Haverstick’s 19 years of federal service have covered
international engagement, security cooperation, strategy, and
foreign military sales (FMS). She has applied her expert knowledge
of global foreign affairs issues to execute national security
priorities and led Department of Defense (DoD) efforts to
develop the 2018 Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) policy and
associated Implementation Plan. She furthered DoD’s incorporation of
the CAT Policy into overarching security cooperation reform strategy
for the comprehensive security cooperation enterprise. In addition,
she has led U.S. efforts to win numerous multi-billion dollar
international defense competitions resulting in more capable
international partners and a more substantial U.S. defense
industrial base.
4. As the Deputy Assistant Director for Weapons with the Defense
Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), Ms. Haverstick was responsible
for leading DSCA’s vision of effective and timely technology
security and foreign disclosure aspects of security cooperation,
where she routinely briefed Congressional staff on strategy and
technical aspects of proposed sales. In addition, Ms. Haverstick led
and completed extraordinary projects valued at over $25B between
international partners, the White House, interagency, and military
departments for advanced technology acquisitions. During a
transition for DSCA, Ms. Haverstick served as the Acting Principal
Director for Strategy where she led both military and civilian
members.
5. Ms. Haverstick will become a member of the Senior Executive
Service with the U.S. Coast Guard on 24 APR 2022.
6. USCG Executive Resources POC: Ms. Brianne Alvis
(Brianne.E.Alvis@uscg.mil).
7. ADM Karl L. Schultz, Commandant (CCG), sends.
8. Internet release is authorized.