Saudi to receive a corvette with 76-mm Super Rapid gun and four engines

RIYADH, ($1=3.75 Saudi Arabian Riyal) – Navantia launched the fifth corvette for the Royal Navy of Saudi Arabia [RSNF] this Saturday at its shipyard in San Fernando [Cadiz], BulgarianMilitary.com has learned, citing sources. The ship, the latest in a contract with the Gulf country, will be named Unayzah, in honor of the city, located north of the Saudi capital.

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Building number 550 at the Cadiz Shipyard entered the water at 3 p.m. The event began, as in the launching of the other four corvettes, with a reading of the Qur’an, followed by a screening of videos of the city, which gives the ship its name, under the Avante 2200 program and the construction of this fifth corvette.

The Jubail-class corvette is based on the “AVANTE 2200” design, adapted to the requirements of the Saudi Navy. The Saudi corvette is longer than the 98.9-meter patrol version with a length of 104 to accommodate larger engines. It is a 2,000-ton ship capable of anti-submarine warfare [ASW], anti-surface warfare [ASuW] and anti-aircraft warfare [AAW]. The Al Jubail Corvette has a maximum range of 4,500 nautical miles, reaching 25 knots, powered by four diesel engines in the CODAD layout.

The Al Jubail Corvette is armed with a single Leonardo SUPER RAPID 76 mm main gun, Rheinmetall Air Defense MILLENNIUM 35 mm close weapons, four 12.7 mm machine guns, 2×3 torpedo tubes, 2×4 anti-ship missiles, and 32 ESSM surface air missiles [8-cell Mk 41].

At the ceremony, the commander of the Royal Saudi Navy stressed that the launch of the five corvettes with such a short and difficult schedule was a remarkable achievement and a clear sign of Navantia’s commitment to meet every stage of the project with high-quality standards.

Avante 2200 program

The Saudi Corvettes have Navantia products such as the Catiz combat system, the Hermes integrated communications system, the Dorna fire direction, the integrated platform management system, and the Mineva integrated bridge, along with other equipment developed by Navantia under license. Like MTU engines, Renk gearboxes.

The treaty assumes a global workload of about seven million hours, which, translated into employment, will reach 6,000 a year over the next five years. Of these, more than 1,100 will be direct employees, more than 1,800 employees of the Navantia ancillary industry, and more than 3,000 indirect employees generated by other suppliers. More than 100 subsidiaries are collaborating on the program.

It also includes life cycle maintenance for five years, from the delivery of the first ship, with the possibility of an additional five years, in addition to the provision of services such as integrated logistics support, operational training and maintenance training, training and training centers for the combat and ship platform management system, life cycle support mentioned above, and ship maintenance systems at the Jeddah Naval Base.

Delivery in February 2024

The ceremony ended when Vice Admiral Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Gofeili cut the ribbon with which the Unayzah corvette, after being hit by a bottle of water from Mecca, slid down the stands until it touched the water for the first time. . Work on the corvette will continue in the water until its delivery to Spain, scheduled for August 2023. The ship will be completed in Saudi Arabia and will be delivered in February 2024.

Commander Al-Gofeili also visited the San Fernando Shipyard and the Navantia Training Center [NTC], a state-of-the-art center where sailors and maintenance corvettes are trained. In addition, he learned about the Land-Based Training Site [LBTS] and simulators at Navantia Sistemas.

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