Yacht-builder Ferretti opens security and defense unit

ROME, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Ferretti Group, an Italy-based yacht maker now owned by China's Weichai, has unveiled a new security division, with its first fast patrol vessel expected in May.

Ferretti announced on Wednesday the creation of Ferretti Security and Defence. The company says the new division will focus on designing naval platforms as the Italian Navy, Coast Guard, and police increase patrols along the country's coasts.

"FSD's mission is to develop vessels with a high technology content, whose performance and efficiency meet the challenging demands faced by those answering the vitally important need for surveillance and who guarantee the safety of our waters, an issue that has always been associated with all of the operations undertaken by our Group," Ferretti Group CEO Alberto Galassi said in a statement.

The company's owner, Chinese state-owned Weichai, will invest $5.5 million in the new division, which already runs six shipyards in Italy. Ferretti Security and Defence has a total of 27 new products expected by 2017.

Ferretti's first fast patrol vessel demonstrator, the FSD 195, expected to be unveiled as early as May. The vessel is 65 feet long and designed to be crewed by between four and eight personnel, with speeds up to 50 knots.

International customers for Ferretti's new products may include the Chinese Coast Guard.