According to information published by Navantia on December 5, 2022, the Spanish firm has delivered the third Al Jubail class corvette Hail to the Royal Saudi Navy.
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Al Jubail class (Avante 2000) corvette Hail. (Picture source: Navantia)
The delivery ceremony was attended by the Commander of the Royal Saudi Navy, Vice Admiral Fahad Bin Abdullah Al-Ghofaily; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto; the President of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez and the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of SAMI, Mohammad Alkhatani.
Navantia has delivered the corvette HAIL to the Royal Saudi Navy three years after the cutting of its first plate (September 2019), thus meeting both the demanding quality requirements and deadlines. It is one of the most competitive and capable vessels in its segment, as demonstrated in the sea trials conducted in the waters of the Bay of Cadiz.
Spanish shipbuilder Navantia signed a joint-venture agreement with state-owned Saudia Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) to build five corvettes based on Avante 2000 for Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF).
The Saudi Arabian variant of Avante 2000 is a 2,000-ton class vessel capable of performing anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), and anti-air warfare (AAW). The Al Jubail-class corvette has a maximum range of 4,500 nautical miles, achieving 25 knots powered by four diesel engines in CODAD arrangement.
The corvette has a length of 99 m (324 ft 10 in), a beam of 13.6 m (44 ft 7 in), and a draught of 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in). She can carry a complement of 92 sailors.
The Al Jubail-class is fitted with Leonardo SUPER RAPID 76mm main gun, Rheinmetall Air Defence MILLENNIUM 35mm close-in weapon system, four 12.7mm machine guns, 2x3 torpedo tubes, 2x4 anti-ship missiles, and 64 ESSM surface-to-air missiles (16-cell Mk 41).
