October 16, 2008:
Algeria is purchasing 21 coastal patrol boats
from French shipyard OCEA, for $8.5 million each. These are 115 foot long, 90
ton boats armed with three 12.7mm machine-guns. The boats have a top speed of
54 kilometers an hour and can carry up to 16. They typically go out for 12-24
hours at a time and are equipped with a FLIR heat sensing radar (able to
provide photographic like images), as well as standard navigation radar and
GPS.
