Plain sailing: Australia's Armidales prove fit for task

摘要

Two-and-a-half years after the first of the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN's) Armidale-class patrol boats (ACPBs) entered service, the 14-strong fleet is operating at a high tempo off Australia's northern coast with fuel contamination problems apparently a thing of the past.The first-of-class, HMAS Armidale, was commissioned in Darwin in June 2005. The final boat, HMAS Glenelg, was completed in November 2007 and is currently completing work up prior to commissioning in February 2008.Six ACPBs - soon to be seven - are currently tasked to Border Protection Command (BPC), the interagency maritime security organisation led by Customs and Defence that is responsible for operational co-ordination and control of both civil and military maritime security and enforcement activities within Australia's 200 n mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and beyond.