Iran to produce armed copies of Bladerunner 51
By IBI Magazine
The Iranian Navy has produced a replica of the British-built Bladerunner 51 speedboat and is intending to mass-produce and arm them with missiles and torpedoes as it builds its military presence in the Strait of Hormuz.
General Ali Fadavi of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) told global news agency AFP: "The Bladerunner is a British ship that holds the world speed record. We got a copy [on which] we made some changes so it can launch missiles and torpedoes." Fadavi was speaking during a recent ceremony that marked the delivery to the IRG of 12 other speedboats equipped with missiles and torpedoes.
Built by Britain's ICE Marine, the 15.5m Bladerunner 51 is one of the fastest high-performance sportsboats in production in the world today. The BR-51 Bradstone Challenger smashed the Round Britain World Record in 1995 when it completed the 1,691-mile circumnavigation in just 27 hours and 10 minutes at an average speed of 53.5kt (61.5mph). Jeremy Watts, ICE Marine founder and company director, told IBI today: "We are very concerned and disappointed to learn of the Iranian plans to copy our Bladerunner 51 design and to potentially use it for military gain. This news confirms our initial fears when first hearing they managed to acquire the 2005 Round Britain Record breaking Bladerunner 51 called 'Bradstone Challenger' early in 2009.
"Following the successful record bid, Bradstone Challenger had been sold on and converted to leisure use, spending two seasons cruising the Mediterranean under private ownership. Bradstone was then put up for sale by the owner in 2008 where it was purchased by a South African dealer, who was later found to be acting on behalf of the Iranians and who used a variety of smoke screen tactics to cover up the eventual destination and Iranian ownership, claiming the boat was intended for a wealthy South African businessman. The boat was reportedly shipped to South Africa but was then reloaded onto a transporter and shipped onto Iran.
"Although Bladerunner development has progressed significantly since the design of the Bradstone Challenger, it is nonetheless galling to hear it may be copied and used in this way and without our consent following many years of hard work, cost and development. It is relatively easy to make a copy of a hull when you have a boat to mould from, however, to engineer and set up the boats correctly without prior experience of this type of craft is certainly more difficult."
(12 August 2010)
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