Role & capabilities
- Maritime surveillance
- Port security
- Remote observation
- Primary domain
- Sea surface
- System type
- Uncrewed surface vessel
- Developer / manufacturer
- Rafael
- Origin / production countries
- Israel
- Other names
- PROTECTOR
- Variants / configurations
- Rafael nominal 9 m configuration; Rafael nominal 11 m configuration; Singapore Navy 9.5 m configuration
- Operators / programme customers
- Republic of Singapore Navy — documented deployments
Evidence & current status
Manufacturer claims are distinguished from procurement and acceptance evidence; undisclosed figures have not been estimated.
Protector is Rafael's uncrewed surface-vessel family for maritime security and observation. It combines a remotely supervised boat with electro-optical sensing and mission equipment, allowing personnel to control the craft from a ship or shore. Public Rafael material describes different hull lengths, so the family should not be treated as one invariant specification.
The Republic of Singapore Navy provides particularly useful operator evidence. Its current equipment page identifies Protector and describes deployment with landing ships for security and counter-piracy tasks in the Northern Arabian Gulf. This supports documented operational use, rather than relying solely on an export exhibition or supplier customer list.
Singapore publishes a 9.5-metre configuration, while the Rafael brochure describes nominal 9- and 11-metre alternatives. These are retained as distinct public baselines. The technical table uses the Singapore vessel where numerical data are available; family-level maximum endurance and speed claims from Rafael are not silently substituted for that boat's figures. Details of current fleet size, the acceptance state of later configurations, and the exact sensor fit on individual deployments still require dated operator records.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration | Remotely controlled surface vessel | Supplier-published configuration; payload and operating conditions affect performance. Source |
| Hull / propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Dimensions | Singapore configuration: 9.5 m length; 3.5 m beam | Operator-listed configuration, not the entire 9/11-metre supplier family. Source |
| Displacement / mass | Singapore configuration: 4 tonnes | Supplier-published configuration; payload and operating conditions affect performance. Source |
| Payload | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Endurance | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Range | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Speed | Singapore configuration: more than 30 knots | Supplier-published configuration; payload and operating conditions affect performance. Source |
| Sea state / environment | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Sensors | Electro-optical observation and mission equipment | Supplier-published configuration; payload and operating conditions affect performance. Source |
| Communications / control | Control from a supporting ship or shore | Supplier-published configuration; payload and operating conditions affect performance. Source |
| Launch / deployment | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
Publication history
- — Published reference update.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.