The Diplomat
The Saudi Arabian Minister of Defence, Prince Khalid bin Salman, handed over last Monday to the Royal Saudi Arabian Navy (RSNF) the fourth of the five corvettes built at Navantia’s Bahía de Cádiz shipyard. In accordance with the terms of the contract, the delivery took place at the King Faisal naval base in Jeddah, according to Navantia.
The corvette, named JAZAN (C549), was transported to Jeddah on a specialised vessel and there underwent the final construction and systems integration works, confirming Navantia’s technology transfer (ToT) and production localisation capability to the SAMINavantia joint venture.
The ceremony was attended by the Chief of Staff, General Fayyad bin Hamed al Ruwaili; the Commander of the Royal Saudi Arabian Navy, Admiral Fahad Bin Abdullah Al-Ghofaily; the Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez; the Admiral Chief of Staff of the Navy, Gonzalo Sanz and the President of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez.
Also in attendance were the Deputy Minister of Defence, Dr. Albiyari; the Deputy Governor of GAMI, Mohammed Alathel; and the Undersecretary of Procurement, Ibrahim Alsuwayed; the CEO of SAMI, Walid Abukhaled; the President of SAMINavantia, Mohammed Alkahtani and the CEO of SAMINavantia, Sofía Honrubia.
The JAZAN corvette is the fourth of the five that make up the Avante 2200 programme. It has a length of 104 metres, a beam of 14 metres and will be capable of carrying a total of 102 crew and passengers.
The design of the corvettes is state-of-the-art, maximising Navantia’s participation through the incorporation of its own products, such as the CATIZ combat system, the HERMESYS integrated communications system, the DORNA fire control system, the Integrated Platform Control System and the MINERVA integrated bridge, together with other equipment developed by Navantia under licence, such as the MTU engines and the RENK gearboxes.
This contract, in force since November 2019, has served to strengthen the immediate future of Navantia and has benefited all the company’s shipyards and its auxiliary industry, especially the entire Bay of Cadiz.
It has meant an overall workload of around seven million hours which, translated into employment, has reached the figure of 6,000 annually during the five years of the programme’s duration. Of these, more than 1,100 have been direct employees, more than 1,800 employees from Navantia’s Auxiliary Industry and more than 3,000 indirect employees generated by other suppliers. More than 100 auxiliary companies have collaborated in the programme.
The programme, whose last ship is due to be delivered in 2024, includes, in addition to the construction, Life Cycle Support for five years from the delivery of the first ship, with an option for a further five years.
The contract also includes the supply of various services, such as integrated logistic support, operational and maintenance training, provision of Training and Training Centres for the Combat System and Platform Control System of the ships, Life Cycle Support and systems for the maintenance of the ships at the Jeddah Naval Base.
