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The United States Senate has approved $6 million in funding, which will allow the United States Navy to purchase several of Port Orchard-based SAFE Boats International’s newest boat. The funding was added to the fiscal year 2008 Department of Defense budget by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Congressman Norm Dicks (D-WA) was successful inserting $4.5 million for the project in the House-passed version of the bill. The increase in funding for the program will result in the hiring of 20 more positions.
SAFE Boat’s Riverine Command Boat (RCB) can also deploy troops or remove injured personnel from combat zones. The Navy awarded the RCB contract to SAFE Boats International in July. The funding secured by the Senate will allow the Navy to purchase two additional RCBs, expediting the Navy’s plan to build three 12-boat squadrons with a total of about 700 sailors.
The newly created Navy Riverine units face a tough and dangerous task in Iraq, where insurgents increasingly rely on inland waterways to transport people and weapons. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which cut through the Iraqi heartland, also are vital avenues of escape for insurgents who strike in urban areas and slither away to avoid American units.
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