On Friday, January 2, 2026, the Ministry of Defense of Ecuador announced that a used large patrol vessel, BAE Jambelí (MP-56), previously serving with the Korean Coast Guard as KCG 3001 of the Tae Pyung Yang class, departed from the Republic of Korea on a 62-day voyage to Ecuador.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of Ecuador
The vessel, commissioned into Korean service in 1994 at the Busan Coast Guard base (subordinate to Namhae) as the lead ship of its class (a total of 13 units were built, differing in displacement), was purchased by the government in Quito in 2024 and officially handed over in April of the same year. Since then, it has undergone modernization and been repainted. The ship was named after an archipelago of six main islands and twelve smaller ones, located at the southern end of Ecuador’s coastline in the waters of the Gulf of Guayaquil, where an episode of the Battle of Zarumilla took place during the war with Peru (July 23–31, 1941).
The vessel is scheduled to arrive in the Salinas area on March 3 of this year, with entry into port planned for March 6. En route, however, it will call at the U.S. ports of Guam, Pearl Harbor, and San Diego (the ship’s endurance is 40 days, hence the need for port calls). The vessel will arrive in the country with a crew trained in Korea, allowing it to immediately join maritime protection and security operations, as well as provide direct support to other state institutions upon reaching port.
The acquisition of the vessel from the Coast Guard of the Republic of Korea was a direct initiative of the President of the Republic of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, and the Minister of Defense, Gian Carlo Loffredo, aimed at increasing capabilities to counter cross-border crime and organized crime at sea (piracy), as well as to enhance strictly patrol duties and environmental protection missions.
The vessel is 105 m long, 15 m wide, has a draft of 3.8 m, and a displacement of approximately 4,400 metric tons. It is armed with two 20 mm six-barrel Sea Vulcan naval cannons (a variant of the M61 Vulcan) and carries at least three pursuit boats.
The new vessel, as part of the Navy (Armada del Ecuador), will play a key role in protecting the marine resources of the Galapagos Islands, located about one thousand kilometers west of Ecuador’s continental coastline and recognized as a natural heritage of humanity since 1978.
