The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has been revealed as the customer for five new Aresa 1300 Sentinel II patrol boats, becoming a repeat customer of the Spanish shipyard.
Aresa Shipyard this week said it had successfully delivered five Aresa 1300 Sentinel II boats to NIMASA, having supplied four Aresa 1300 Sentinel vessels in 2013.
In August last year, Aresa revealed contracts for nine 1300 Sentinel II boats from then-unnamed African countries, with deliveries scheduled to take place between the end of 2022 and early 2023.
Aresa explained that the 13 metre long 1300 Sentinel II is built entirely out of naval aluminium, and has integral armour built into the main cabin. It is powered by outboard motors for ease of handling and maintenance, and is equipped with sensors like thermal and night vision cameras. With four outboard engines, the Sentinel II has a top speed of 55-60 knots.
Over the last few years NIMASA has taken delivery of a raft of new equipment for its Deep Blue maritime security, which was launched in June 2021 after being initiated in 2017. Some of the hardware acquired includes two Special Mission Vessels (the DB Lagos and DB Abuja, built by Shipyard De Hoop in the Netherlands), three AW109 helicopters, 16 Proforce armoured vehicles, two Cessna Citation CJ3 maritime surveillance aircraft, 17 De Haas Maasluis DHM1050 interceptor boats, four Tekever AR3 unmanned aerial vehicles, a C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence) Operations Centre and 600 personnel strong Maritime Security Unit (MSU).
The main goals of the project are to prevent illegal activities in Nigeria’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), enforce maritime regulations, enhance safety of lives at sea, and prevent illegal activities in the inland waterways.
Aresa specialises in the construction, repair, and maintenance, services, and marketing of vessels up to 60 meters in length in composite materials and marine aluminium. It has built more than 1 200 vessels over the last sixty years.
The company has also supplied a number of vessels to African military customers, including the Senegal Maritime Police (15 Aresa 1200 Coastal Patrol vessels in the 1990s), Cameroon (17 military vessels in the 2010s), Angola Maritime Police, and Nigerian Navy.
In September 2021, Aresa said four 17 metre long Aresa 1700 inshore patrol boats had been shipped to the Nigerian Navy after the conclusion of sea trials, commissioning etc. Aresa announced the launch of the first Aresa 1700 Fighter II vessel (P494) for Nigeria in April 2021.
First published by Defence Web, excluding headline
