The Mk 6 Assault Boat is an

assault boat An assault boat is a boat used for landing in combat, meant for inland waters. Assault boats are light enough to be carried by multiple men and paddled, or fitted with an outboard motor for high-speed operation, manually portable or not. Some ass ...

used by the Royal Engineers of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

. It is usually paddled for a silent or night-time approach, but can be fitted with an

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method o ...

. Its built from

glass reinforced plastic Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

and is light enough to be carried by four men. The Mk 6 Assault Boat is used as a versatile, general purpose craft that was designed to carry up to 10 fully equipped troops or 1,043 kg of stores. It also makes a useful ferry craft when fitted with an outboard motor. Assault Boats may be stacked six deep for storage or transport. Whilst basic and often overlooked it has been in constant operational use since its introduction, including conducting patrols on

Helmand Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 13 ...

Reservoir in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

and proved highly useful in the Southern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Marshes, especially over the last year of British Operations on the Qarmat Ali Waterway, north of

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

where the ability to carry the boat over shallows made it much more employable than the faster but larger

Rigid Raider The Rigid Raider (RRC) is a series of fast raiding and assault craft made by RTK Marine, a subsidiary of Halmatic, part of BAE Systems Surface Ships. They are primarily in service with two branches of the British Armed Forces: The Royal Navy (in ...

Combat Support Boat This is a list of equipment of the British Army currently in use. It includes small arms, combat vehicles, aircraft, watercraft, artillery and transport vehicles. The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a par ...

References

British Army equipment Amphibious warfare vessels of the United Kingdom Landing craft Military boats {{UK-mil-stub

See also

References