Work on all three new corvettes being built by Navantia for the Royal Saudi Navy is under way and the keel on the first new vessel has been laid.
As per a recent Navantia press statement, the firm’s San Fernando shipyard in Cadiz, Spain, played host to a special ceremony last week to mark the keel-laying for the future RSN Al-Madinah, a variant of its Avante 2200 warship.
Navantia has already built and launched five such ships for the RSN; the first-in-class of these initial vessels, RSN Al Jubail, was launched in the summer of 2020.
The multipurpose corvettes are designed for surveillance and search and rescue and also have anti-submarine warfare, anti-aircraft, anti-surface, and electronic warfare capabilities. They can sail at up to 25 knots and have a maximum range of 4,500 nautical miles.
The three new warships are due to be delivered to the RSN by the end of 2028. Navantia will be responsible for the delivery of the first ship; the second and third will be completed in Saudi Arabia.
The Venezuelan Navy also operates three Guaiquerí-class patrol vessels based on the Avante 2200 design.
- You can read more details about the RSN vessels on the Navantia website