ST Engineering today announced that its US shipyard VT Halter Marine Inc (VT Halter Marine), has secured an undefinitised contract in excess of US$165 million ($232.5 million) with the US Navy for a fourth Fast Missile Craft (FMC) for the Egyptian Navy.

The FMC is designed to perform coastal patrol, surveillance, interdiction, surface strike and naval battle group support for the 21st century. The vessels will allow the Republic of Egypt to maintain the security of its coastal regions for both itself and friendly countries, while denying access to the areas by any potential adversaries.

Each vessel will be approximately 62m in length and will incorporate ship signature control technology. High speed and maneuverability are two of the ship’s primary assets to fulfill these roles. The vessels will also incorporate numerous combat system assets and electronic sensors, equipping the vessels with capabilities in anti-aircraft, anti-surface and electronic warfare.

This most recent contract brings the total value for the FMC project to US$807 million. Work on this fourth FMC will commence by mid 2011 and delivery is expected by end of 2013. VT Halter Marine has begun construction on the first FMC which it expects to deliver by mid 2012.

ST Engineering announced on Dec 1 2005 that it had secured the initial Phase I functional design contract for US$29 million. Two subsequent contract modifications were awarded in November 2006 and June 2007 respectively for procuring the FMC project’s long lead items which added US$206.5 million to the contract. Subsequent changes in the scope of work further increased the Phase I contract value to US$249.2 million.

With the award of Phase II of the FMC project in September 2008, the total contract value awarded to ST Engineering for the first three FMCs amounted to US$642 million. This latest US$165m contract reflects non-recurring cost reductions from the first three vessels contracted earlier and government furnished equipment which was previously provided by VT Halter Marine.