According to information published by the French company Naval Group, The first Gowind corvette ordered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Naval Group was launched on December 4, 2021, in presence of His Highness Sheikh Saeed bin Hamdan Al-Nahyan, Commander of the UAE Naval Forces.
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The first Gowind corvette ordered by the United Arab Emirates to Naval Group was launched on December 4, 2021, at the Naval Group site in Lorient, France. (Picture source Naval Group)
In June 2019 it was announced that the United Arab Emirates has ended 17 months of negotiations for the purchase of two Gowind corvettes, with two more as an option, from the French shipyard Naval Group.
The first corvette, Bani Yas, was launched on December 4, 2021, in the Naval Group Lorient shipyard in presence of His Highness Sheikh Saeed bin Hamdan Al-Nahyan. The second corvette is already under construction and will be launched next year.
Naval Group, as a turn-key solution provider, will also train the UAE Navy's crew from the equipment level up to the operational level. Starting in France, this preparation will continue with team-building and practice on operational scenarios in every warfare area in the Gulf.
Alain Guillou, Naval Group Senior Executive Vice President Development, stated: "We are honored to welcome the UAE representatives to our shipyard to witness the launching of their first Gowind corvette. These two surface combatants will provide the UAE Navy with new naval capabilities and this event marks a very important milestone for the program close to the highly symbolic day of the UAE 50th anniversary. The Bani Yas program illustrates Naval Group’s capability to deliver state of the art capabilities to meet specific requirements of its customers with the integration of diversified sensors and weapons through its SETIS Combat Management System".
Gowind has also been selected by two other navies and is successfully in service with the Egyptian Navy.
Gowind is a multi-mission Surface Combatant providing multiple simultaneous capabilities and designed to achieve, with the highest level of performance, the full spectrum of naval defense operations and maritime security roles.
Sturdy, strongly equipped, highly maneuverable, Gowind integrates, through a combat-proven Naval Group Combat Management System designed by Naval Group and innovative structural solutions, the latest generation sensors and weapons. Integrating all warfare capabilities above and underwater from the initial steps of the engineering process, Gowind is multi-role by design.
