The Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) was developed in the late 1960's and was originally conceived of for the role of life boats. Development took place at Atlantic College in Wales and the patented was awarded to Admiral Desmond Hoare in 1969. It wasn't long before Special Operations COMmands (SOCOM) from all over the world saw the inherent military applications for a lightweight, inflatable vessel sporting a fiberglass rigid hull. The RIB's characteristics are such that it allows the craft to fulfill sport and most military requirements with relative ease. RIB's come in a variety of sizes and most range between 13- and 40-feet in length. In 1997, US SOCOM chose the contractor USMI to manufacture the NSW RIB.
The 11-meter boat has a standard crew of three made up of the boat captain and two gunners and can handle up to 10 additional passengers. Propulsion can be two outboard motors or an inboard water jet stern drive generating up to 470 horsepower. The boat can handle 3,200lbs including the team with full gear and has two gun mounts that can accommodate a combination of 7.62mm (.30 caliber) M60 General Purpose Machine Guns or 12.7mm (.50 caliber) Browning M2 Heavy Machine Guns or 40mm SACO MK 19 Automatic Grenade Launchers. Despite this formidable array of weapon choices, the "true" weapon that the RIB possesses is its 40 knot speed in "blue" or "brown" water and survivability in adverse weather conditions, being able to stand up in a Sea State 6 with winds upwards of 46 knots. Sea State 6 is a measurement as used by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and ranges from 0 (no waves with calm conditions) to 9 (over 14-meter high waves with phenomenal conditions)
The Special Operations COMmand (SOCOM) has almost 50,000 personnel in units spread across the US Navy SEALs (SEa, Air and Land), the US Army's Green Berets, US Army Rangers and the US Air force Special Operations Squadrons - all use RIB's of various sizes. The SEALs various missions send them into land areas all over the world but they always keep one eye on the nearest source of water. Their primary mission is stealth ground reconnaissance of a target prior to an attack by regular forces.
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(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)
Length
35.0 ft 10.67 m
Beam
10.6 ft 3.23 m
Draught
2.0 ft 0.00 m
Displacement
9 tons
Installed Power:
2 x 3126B Caterpillar Diesel Engines developing 470 horsepower at 2,950 rpm; KaMeWa / Rolls-Royce Water Jets.
Surface Speed
40.0 kts (46.0 mph)
Range
249 nm (287 mi | 462 km)
kts = knots | mph = miles-per-hour | nm = nautical miles | mi = miles | km = kilometers
1 kts = 1.15 mph | 1 nm = 1.15 mi | 1 nm = 1.85 km
Combination of 12.7mm Browning M2 heavy machine guns, 7.62mm M60 general purpose machine guns or 40mm Saco MK 19 automatic grenade launchers. Any personal weapons as carried by the crew as well.
Supported Types
(Not all weapon types may be represented in the showcase above)
None.
Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective naval campaigns / operations / periods.
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