RHIB

The U.S. Navy just spread a contract worth up to $650 million across eight small American boatbuilders to keep its fleet of rigid hull inflatable boats stocked for the next decade. Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington awarded eight separate contracts on April 30, collectively valued at $325,9 million at the base level and stretching to a maximum cumulative value of $650,1 million if all options are exercised over the full ten-year period, according to the Department of War's Friday contracts announcement. The contracts cover procurement of up to 474 composite rigid hull inflatable boats across all eight vendors. Fifteen companies competed for the work through the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment, and eight walked away with awards. The winners span the eastern seaboard and the Great Lakes: ASIS Boats USA LLC, doing business as Ocean Craft Marine, out of Annapolis, Maryland; Brig USA LLC, operating as Fluid Marine Response, in Franklinton, North Carolina; Ghostworks Marine Inc. in Holland, Michigan; Ribcraft USA LLC in Marblehead, Massachusetts; St. Johns Ship Building Inc. in Palatka, Florida; Structural Composites Inc. in Melbourne, Florida; United States Marine Inc. in Gulfport, Mississippi; and The Whiskey Project Group USA LLC in Edenton, North Carolina. Each company received a $1,000 minimum contract guarantee at award — a standard contracting mechanism that establishes the legal relationship without committing to volume — with all meaningful funding flowing at the delivery order level as actual purchases occur. Rigid hull inflatable boats, RHIBs in Navy shorthand, are among the most versatile small craft in the U.S. military's inventory. Built around a rigid fiberglass or composite hull with inflatable tubes running the length of the gunwales, they combine the stability and load-carrying capacity of a hard-hull vessel with the buoyancy and shock absorption of an inflatable, making them exceptionally capable in rough water and forgiving of the kind of hard use that comes with military operations. The Navy uses them across a wide range of missions: ship-to-shore transfers, visit-board-search-and-seizure operations, special operations force insertion and extraction, harbor patrol, and personnel recovery. The composite construction specified in this contract — rather than aluminum or fiberglass alone — points toward durability, reduced maintenance burden, and weight savings that matter when a boat needs to be launched and recovered from a ship at sea. The initial funding obligated at award is minimal by Pentagon standards: $8,000 total, drawn from fiscal 2024 other procurement Navy funds, split as $1,000 per awardee. That money expires at the end of the current fiscal year and exists purely to legally activate the contracts. Every dollar of actual boat procurement comes later, at the delivery order level, which means the $325 million base figure and the $650 million ceiling represent potential value over ten years rather than committed spending today. First orders are expected to be completed by July 2026, suggesting the Navy intends to begin drawing on at least some of these contracts almost immediately. The geographic spread of the awardees is notable in its own right. From a Michigan freshwater boatbuilder to a Florida shipyard to a North Carolina marine fabricator, the contract distributes industrial capacity — and the political benefits of defense work — across multiple states and congressional districts. That's not an accident. Multi-award IDIQ contracts of this type are specifically designed to maintain a healthy industrial base by preventing any single company from monopolizing a market segment, which keeps smaller specialized manufacturers viable between large orders and ensures the Navy has multiple production options when it needs to surge. Fifteen companies submitted offers for this work, which tells you the RHIB market is competitive and that the Navy's requirements were specific enough to attract serious bids but broad enough to accommodate a range of design approaches. Eight awards from fifteen offers is a reasonable hit rate for a competition of this type — enough winners to create genuine ongoing competition, few enough to maintain meaningful contract value per vendor.

RHIB

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RHIB

U.S. Navy sets up $650M competition for 474 military boats

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About The Defence Blog