Ares Shipyard boats: which model serves which mission?
Ares Shipyard’s product catalog is organized under five main headings: patrol craft, naval craft, service and support vessels, passenger vessels, and unmanned surface vehicles. This guide brings the yard’s boat families together on a single page by mission profile and points to the detailed file we have prepared for each family. The numbers in model names indicate the vessel’s approximate length in feet.
The families at a glance
| Family | Mission profile | Length range | Verified operators |
|---|---|---|---|
| BOLD (formerly HERCULES) | Offshore patrol (OPV) | ~24-48 m | Qatar, Oman |
| HARPOON | Fast interception/interdiction | ~7-20 m | Qatar |
| SAT | Special operations | ~17-48 m | Qatar, Iraq |
| FPB | Fast patrol boat | ~9-42 m | Turkish Coast Guard, national police, Nigeria |
| BLAZE (formerly HECTOR) | Multi-role patrol | ~13-33 m | TRNC (ARES 42 HECTOR) |
| OPV series | Offshore patrol (new generation) | ~13-22 m class codes | Not officially disclosed |
| SAR | Search and rescue | 18.50 m (ARES 18 SAR) | Directorate General of Coastal Safety |
| ULAQ | Unmanned surface vehicle | 11 m (prototype) | Qatar (first export, 2024) |
Patrol missions: BOLD, FPB and BLAZE
Designed for offshore patrol, the BOLD class forms the yard’s export showcase through the Qatar and Oman programs; the 48-meter flagship, the ARES 150 BOLD, is compared with its Damen and OCEA counterparts in a separate file. In coastal patrol, the main product is the ARES 35 FPB, of which 122 were built for the Turkish Coast Guard and the national police. The BLAZE class (formerly HECTOR) is the multi-role patrol family that includes the ARES 42 class delivered to the Coast Guard of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
Interception and special operations: HARPOON and SAT
For interception missions demanding speed, the HARPOON class is used; the 11.90-meter ARES 35 HARPOON exceeds 55 knots according to manufacturer data, and the ARES 24 HARPOON is carried on the deck of the ARES 150 BOLD. The verified orders for the SAT class, designed for special forces operations, are Qatar’s 6 ARES 80 SATs and the TYPE 55 SAT boats built for Iraq.
Search and rescue and unmanned systems
The yard’s domestic program in the 2025-2026 period is the 16-unit ARES 18 SAR search and rescue boat built for the Directorate General of Coastal Safety; the first boat was launched in June 2026. On the unmanned side, the ULAQ family, developed in partnership with Meteksan Savunma, achieved Turkey’s first unmanned surface vehicle export with the 2024 sale to Qatar.
Civilian products
Alongside the military catalog, the yard also builds civilian platforms such as the two ARES 65 FCTV crew transfer vessels delivered to Turkish state oil company TPAO, passenger vessels built for Qatar, and service boats. The ARES Yachts brand, announced at the Monaco Yacht Show in 2023, gathered the superyacht segment under a separate roof. The company’s founding, management and full program history are covered in the hub file; the breakdown of export contracts in the export file; and the management structure in the leadership file.
Where to start?
For a reader encountering the yard for the first time, the suggested order is: first the hub file introducing the company, then the export file, and then the page for the boat family of interest. A reader looking for a technical comparison can go straight to the ARES 150 BOLD comparison file; a reader focused on unmanned systems can move to the ULAQ file.
Frequently asked questions
How are ARES boat names read?
The number indicates the vessel’s approximate length in feet, and the suffix the mission type. Example: the ARES 80 SAT is a 24-meter-class special operations craft. The ARES 18 SAR is the exception to this rule; it reflects the metric length of 18.50 meters.
What happened to the HERCULES and HECTOR names?
In the company catalog, the HERCULES family is listed as BOLD and the HECTOR family as BLAZE; deliveries under the export programs were announced under the old names.
Which ARES boat has been built in the largest numbers?
The ARES 35 FPB, with its 122-unit program; Shephard Media reported the program as Turkey’s largest military vessel project by unit count.
Which trade shows does Ares Shipyard attend?
According to company announcements, DIMDEX, NAVDEX, IDEF, SAHA EXPO, Milipol Qatar and the World Defense Show are on its regular attendance list.
Are the boats’ prices known?
Unit prices are not officially disclosed. The only publicly reported values are the 2014 Qatar (~250 million USD, 17 boats) and 2018 Qatar (~200 million USD, 9 vessels) packages.
Sources and verification note
The classification in this guide is based on the official product catalog; order information rests on company announcements and the independent defense press. Accessed: August 13, 2026.
- https://ares.global/vessels
- https://ares.global/vessels/patrol
- https://ares.global/vessels/naval
- https://ares.global/vessels/autonomous-unmanned-systems
- https://ares.global/media-center/news/ares-shipyard-will-provide-two-ares-65-fctv-to-tpao
- https://ares.global/media-center/news/ares-shipyard-unveils-superyacht-brand-ares-yachts-at-monaco-yacht-show-2023
- https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/naval-warfare/ares-build-122-patrol-boats-turkish-coast-guard/
- https://www.navaltoday.com/2018/03/22/qatari-coastguard-orders-nine-more-vessels-from-ares-bmt/
