The Chief of the General Staff of Saudi Arabia, Fayyad bin Hamed al Ruwaili and the Commander of the Royal Saudi Arabian Navy, Admiral Fahad Bin Abdullah Al-Ghofaily, today presided over the delivery to the Royal Saudi Arabian Navy (RSNF) of the fifth corvette built in Navantia’s Bahía de Cádiz shipyard. In accordance with the provisions of the contract, the delivery took place at the King Faisal naval base in Jeddah.
The corvette, named UNAYZAH (C550), was transported to Jeddah on a specialized ship and there it underwent the final construction and systems integration work, confirming the capacity for technology transfer (ToT) and production localization by part of Navantia to the SAMINavantia joint venture.
The ceremony was attended by the Admiral Chief of Navy Personnel, Gonzalo Sanz and the president of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez. Also attending were the Deputy Minister of Defense, Dr. Albiyari; Undersecretary of Procurement, Ibrahim Alsuwayed; SAMI CEO Walid Abukhaled; the president of SAMINavantia, Mohammed Alkahtani; and the CEO of SAMINavantia, Sofía Honrubia.
‘Unayzah’ corvette is the fifth in the series that makes up the Avante 2200 program. It has a length of 104 meters, a beam of 14 and will be capable of transporting a total of 102 people between crew and passengers.
The design of the corvettes is of the latest generation, maximizing at the same time the participation of Navantia through the incorporation of its own products, such as the CATIZ combat system, the HERMESYS integrated communications system, the DORNA fire direction, the Integrated Control System Platform and the MINERVA integrated bridge, along with other equipment developed by Navantia under license, such as MTU motors, RENK gearboxes.
This contract, in force since November 2018, has strengthened Navantia and benefited all the company’s shipyards and its auxiliary industry, especially the entire Bay of Cádiz.
It has entailed a global workload of around seven million hours which, translated into employment, reached the figure of 6,000 annually for the next 5 years. 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 program.
The contract includes, in addition to construction, Life Cycle Support for five years, from the delivery of the first vessel, with the option of another five additional years.
Likewise, it includes the supply of various services, such as integrated logistical support, operational and maintenance training, supply of Training and Training Centers for the Combat System and Platform Control System of ships, Life Cycle Support, mentioned above, and the systems for the maintenance of ships at the Jeddah Naval Base.