The Dvora-class fast patrol boat is a fast class of patrol boats built by Israel Aerospace Industries for the Israeli Sea Corps based on the Israeli Dabur-class patrol boat.

Operational history

Sri Lanka

The Dvora class has become the work horse of the Sri Lanka Navy which has deployed it since the mid-1980s to counter LTTE operations at sea. Since then Dvoras have been made in Sri Lanka and has been the basis for the more advanced Colombo class fast patrol boat built by the Colombo Dockyard Limited and used by South Asian navies to counter terrorism. According to former Mossad officer Victor Ostrovsky, Amy Yaar, another Mossad operative, helped supply the Sri Lankan government with Dvoras to patrol its coasts from attack by the LTTE. Simultaneously, Yaar and her associates were supplying the Tamils with anti-PT boat equipment to use in fighting the government forces. Ostrovsky also alleged that Mossad helped the Sri Lankan government pay for the boats by cheating the World Bank and other investors out of millions of dollars.

Taiwan

The Republic of China Navy uses Dvoras as Fast Attack Missile Craft, purchasing two and using them as a pattern for the almost-identical, locally-built Hai Ou-class missile boats (Hai Ou class has three propeller shafts whereas Dvora class has two), 50 built. Both classes, being an anti-ship asset, are armed with additional two Hsiung Feng I anti-ship missiles and have been in ROCN service for over 20 years.

Operators