First of these ships, Al Jubail, Spanish Navantia has delivered in March this year. The contract schedule privedes delivery of third corvette to Royal Saudi Naval Forces next year.
“Al Diriyah has been delivered to the Royal Saudi Navy three years after its first cut of steel (May 2019), meeting demanding deadlines despite the health pandemic and global supply stress. The corvette is one of the most competitive and capable vessels in its segment, as it has been confirmed in the sea trials undergone in the Bay of Cadiz.” Navantia wrote in press release published on its website.
Resumen de la ceremonia de entrega de la corbeta ‘Al-Diriyah´, 2ª de las 5 unidades construidas en Astillero San Fernando para a la Real Marina Saudí 🇸🇦
Programa Avante 2200⚓️#NAVANTIA #Cadizhttps://t.co/nwAug1oHie— Navantia Oficial (@NavantiaOficial) July 27, 2022
The Al Diriyah corvette has a length of 104 meters, a beam of 14 and seating for a total of 102 people between crew and passengers. The contract for the construction of five corvettes entered into force in November 2018 and, since the launch of the first unit (July 2020), Navantia launched the five units with a period of four months between each one of them, which meant achieving this milestone in a record time of three years.
The corvettes are based on the AVANTE 2200 design, adapted to the requirements of the RSNF, offering advanced performance, excellent work at sea, high survivability, and ability to operate in extreme temperatures.
Simultaneously, around 500 crew members of these corvettes are completing the education and training process at the Navantia Training Centre (NTC) in San Fernando.
In addition to the corvette contract, Navantia agreed with SAMI (Saudi Arabian Military Industries) to create a joint venture in Saudi Arabia, an alliance that allows Navantia to position its integrated systems and technologically advanced solutions in the Arab market and area of influence and is aligned with the company’s internationalization strategy.
The contract assumes a global workload of around seven million hours and 6,000 jobs over five years. Of these, more than 1,100 are direct employees, more than 1,800 collaborating industry employees (more than a hundred companies participate at the programme) and more than 3,000 indirect employees generated by other suppliers.
The program includes, in addition to construction, the Life Cycle Support for five years from the delivery of the first ship, with an option for another five additional years, the last ship of which must be delivered in 2024.
It also includes the provision of various services, such as integrated logistics support, operational and maintenance training, provision of Education and Training Centres for the Combat System and Platform Control System of ships, Life Cycle Support, and ship maintenance systems at the Jeddah Naval Base.
