The keel of the Royal Saudi Navy’s seventh corvette has been laid at Navantia’s San Fernando shipyard in Cadiz, Spain.
The Al Jubail-class warship, which will be named HMS Neom, is the middle ship of the second batch of the vessels being constructed for the RSNF. Like the first five, all three warships in Batch II are based on the Spanish shipbuilder’s Avante 2200 design.
The first Batch II corvette, HMS Al-Madinah is awaiting its imminent launch; delivery of the eighth and final vessel is scheduled for 2029.
As per a Navantia press statement, the Spanish firm will fully deliver the first Batch II unit, but the second and third will be completed in Saudi Arabia, including installation, integration and testing of their combat systems, mirroring the Batch I process.
The 99-metre 2,400-ton corvettes have a range of about 4,500 nautical miles and can sail at up to 25 knots. They are equipped for anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare and air defence.
Their weapons systems include a Leonardo Super Rapid 76mm main gun, a Rheinmetall Air Defence Millennium 35mm close-in weapon system (CIWS), and a Mk 41 16-cell vertical launch system (VLS) with ESSM surface-to-air missiles
The keel-laying ceremony in Spain was held at the end of last week and was attended by the Navantia and RSNF programme team, headed by project director, Commander Fareed M. Alharbi.
- You can read more details on the Navantia website