Milkor develops Commander patrol craft for Middle East region

Milkor UAE's 16 m patrol craft, Commander, at WDS 2024. (Milkor UAE)

Milkor UAE unveiled a new 16 m patrol craft, named Commander, at the World Defense Show (WDS) 2024 held in Riyadh from 4 to 8 February.

Milkor has designed the vessel specifically for the Middle Eastern region and is responsible for the manufacturing of the craft.

Development started in late 2023 and the craft will take another year to be manufactured in full scale ahead of its official launch in February 2025 at IDEX. While Milkor Commander has been primarily developed for use as a manned platform, it may be operated as an unmanned platform as well, a company official told Janes. All tests, including sea trials, are expected to be completed by late 2024.

Based on an aluminium monohull for enhanced durability, the vessel is designed to operate at high speeds and long ranges, and carries a crew of four in addition to six combat troops, with extra space on deck. The 20 tonne craft has an overall length of 16 m, a beam of 4.3 m, and a draught of 0.84 m.

The payload capacity allows it to be adapted to a wide variety of roles, including maritime patrol, high-speed interception, infrastructure monitoring and inspection, surveillance, and search and rescue. In manned mode it can be used in littoral combat operations and in remotely piloted unmanned mode it can be used for surveillance roles.