Navantia To Build Three More Corvettes For Saudi Arabia

Spanish shipbuilder Navantia has signed a contract to supply another three Avante 2200 corvettes to the Royal Saudi Navy.

The deal signed with the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defence will take the total number of such vessels operated by the Saudis to eight. Construction work on the three extra ships will begin immediately and the firm is aiming to deliver all three new vessels by 2028, as per a recent company press statement.

The 99-metre vessels are armed with 76mm and 35mm naval guns, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, surface-to air missiles and torpedoes and are equipped with a Thales SMART-S radar system. They have a displacement of just over 2,400 tons and can sail at a maximum speed of 24 knots.

The Avante 2200 corvettes are multipurpose vessels designed for offshore patrol, maritime traffic surveillance, and search and rescue missions. They also boast Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Electronic Warfare (EW) capabilities.

The initial deal to build the first five Avante 2200 corvettes for the Royal Saudi Navy was signed in 2018 and was reportedly worth just under €2 billion.

Navantia will build the first of the first three new vessels in Spain, but will finalize the second and third units in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia via SAMINavantia, the 2018 joint venture between the Spanish shipbuilder and Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI). SAMINavantia will supply the complete Hazem Combat System of the three new corvettes.

The deal includes a training plan for more than 100 Saudi engineers and the manufacturing of blocks for the third corvette in Saudi Arabia. The Navantia statement also notes: "Navantia will transfer the Intellectual Property Rights of the Avante 2200 design to GAMI, enabling the design’s utilization for the manufacturing of future corvettes for the Kingdom, as well as for potential export markets."

• You can read more details on the Navantia website