We’ll see how often the FRCs actually do anything.
But even they are under armed for dealing with Iran.
As a former mk38 gunner/tech I can tell you if Iran does try something the FRCs will stand little chance. They’ll be outnumbered by vessels with similar or more firepower.
A patrol craft meant to fend off a FAC swarm needs a lot more firepower than 1 single barreled 20-30mm gun.
The Ivan khurs attack is a great example.
They had 1 14.5mm gun and 1 LMG available to target 3 jet ski sized attack craft, and failed to stop them all. Even if the one that made contact failed to do serious damage, that’s pure luck. If those vessels had any sort of ballistic weapons they would have all managed to get into threat range.
The khurs’ replacement ship however seems to have successfully fended off a similar attack in the same region. The difference? An ak630 was present backed up by a 14.5mm gun.
All that to come back to the FRCs, they’re poor replacements for the cyclones, that had twice the gun power as well as the ability to launch small ASMs.
The MK VIs could also mount griffins so even they would be better at actually fighting than the FRCs
After the fall of the USSR there should have been a decade focused on PCs/OPVs and MCMs, especially after 9/11. A terrorist organization getting ahold of mines and a few dhows were a much bigger maritime threat than any air attack from 2001-2011.
