First Interceptor Jet boat for Gujarat Marine Police arrives

The longstanding demand of the Gujarat Police for a speedboat to guard the state’s 1,600-km long coastline has finally been met. The marine policemen at Mundra will be riding the original piece of the 12-tonne Interceptor Security Vessel in a couple of days.

The state-of-the-art vessel, which is being brought from the Goa Shipyard Company, Goa on a trailer, passed from Vadodara on Wednesday. The vessel has already been tasted in Goa.

Now, the marine police force will be able to sail into the sea on a vessel that can chase intruders at the speed of 39 nautical miles. It is an original piece obtained from a Greece-based shipbuilding company. Rest of the ships will be prototypes.

The 13-metre long vessel is bulletproof and has a jet propulsion. Unlike normal boats, it is propelled by a jet of water ejected from the rear of the craft. A normal motorboat uses a propeller in the water below or behind the boat, while a jetboat draws the water from under the boat into a pump-jet inside and expels it through a nozzle at the stern.

This directly results in reaching the top speed in minimum time, which is the most essential part of the coastal patrolling.

The new security vessel has the capacity to cover 75 nautical miles at one go. It can further cover 25 nautical miles with the help of reserved fuel.

There would be a fixed light machine gun pod apart from other weapons with the crew on board. The vessel can carry 20 people at a time.