Har storleken någon betydelse?Enligt den amerikanske marina militärteoretikern Milan N. Vego har den detvad avser fartyg vid mellanstatliga konflikter i kustnära farvatten.Denna uppsats syftar till att svara på frågan om samma förhållanden gäller vidPeace Support Operations (PSO).Uppsatsen analyserar Vegos tes, små ytstridsfartygs egenskaper, kraven vidPSO:s och de fall där små ytstridsenheter har verkat vid PSO:s.Slutligen värderas analyserade fakta och frågan besvaras.
The fast patrol boat (FPB) has played an important role in the cold war and inits aftermath. In recent years though, we have seen a development where theFPB:s are disappearing in nation after nation. The American naval theoristMilan N. Vego claims that the FPB:s have a natural role in naval operations innarrow seas during wartime. This essay is trying to answer the question ofwhether this is also true in peace support operations (PSO).Since wartime operations and PSO:s differ in both it’s goals and it’s methods Ihad to break down the methods in to functions. The functions are; anti surfacewarfare (ASuW), anti submarine warfare (ASW), anti air warfare (AAW), minecounter measurements (MCM), command and control (C²) and other functions.To answer the question I started to examine the abilities of the FPB:s, to findout it’s strengths and it’s weaknesses. In the next step I described and examinedthe demands in a PSO with emphasis on the naval tasks. I also tried toanticipate what future PSO:s will probably look like.My next step was to examine the three known cases where FPB:s haveparticipated in PSO:s. Each case was studied and described as a separate case.Finally I have tried to value to what extent the wartime functions have beenused in the studied PSO:s. I then discussed what functions I deemed wasnecessary in order to conduct the PSO:s. My next step was to estimate whetherthe studied cases corresponds to estimated future PSO:s.My conclusion is that the FPB:s are a valuable asset in PSO as well as inwartime operations. The reason for the decline of FPB:s in European navies hasnot been answered in this essay, nor the consequences. This is an interestingsubject for further investigation.