Surface Forces: Stealthy Patrol Boats

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January 27, 2010: The UAE (United Arab Emirates) has ordered two Falaj 2 class patrol boats from Italian builder Fincantieri. These ships are 55 meters (170 feet) long, have a crew of 28 and a top speed of 36 kilometers an hour. The main armament is an autoloading 76mm gun, plus machine-guns. Displacing less than a thousand tons, the ships are designed to be stealthy (difficult to pick up on radar.) The ships themselves have air and surface search radars. These ships are designed to patrol the Persian Gulf, usually for smugglers, and, in wartime, for armed Iranian speedboats.