Navantia has delivered this Sunday to the Royal Saudi Navy the third of the five corvettes built in its shipyards in the Bay of Cádiz, construction 548, named HAIL, in an act held at the San Fernando shipyard facilities. The delivery of the next two units will take place in Saudi Arabia.
The delivery ceremony was attended by the commander of the Royal Saudi Navy, Vice Admiral Fahad Bin Abdullah Al-Ghofaily; the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto; the president of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez and the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of SAMI, Mohammad Alkhatani.
The mayoress of San Fernando, Patricia Cavada; the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Spain, Azzam bin Abdulkarim al Qain; the director of the Navional Security Department, Miguel Ángel Ballesteros; the general director of Armament and Material (DiGAM) of the Ministry of Defence, Aniceto Rosique; and the Chief Admiral of Logistics Support (AJAL) of the Navy, Ricardo Hernández, among other authorities have also attended the ceremony.
Navantia has delivered the HAIL corvette to the Royal Saudi Navy three years after cutting its first sheet metal (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 carried out in the waters of the Bay of Cádiz.
“The delivery of this corvette marks a new milestone in relations between our two countries, which have been strengthened in recent years thanks to the trust of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. in the public company Navantia. The memorandum signed this week reinforces this confidence and is a very important step to guarantee the workload in the Navantia shipyards in Spain, especially in San Fernando, for the next few years”.
Spanish Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto
During the event, carried out in accordance with military protocol, a mixed inspection commission (formed by members of the Royal Saudi Navy and Navantia) has boarded the corvette to carry out the mandatory inspection. Upon completion, the ship’s flag was raised, after which the Royal Saudi Navy transferred command of the corvette to the HAIL commander. The president of Navantia has given Vice Admiral Al-Ghofaily the ship’s bell as an institutional gift.
“It is your work that bears the good name of Navantia throughout the world” , “design, build and deliver state-of-the-art complex ships with the highest quality standards and within demanding deadlines, with technology transfer and providing services advanced”. “Completion of this high-tech program has certainly been a determining factor in renewing customer confidence,”
President of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez
Vice Admiral Al-Ghofaily, for his part, stressed that the raising of the Saudi flag on the HAIL corvette is a “glorious and historic” moment and that the ship, like the whole of its class, “has been designed and built to be one of the most powerful and technologically advanced corvettes to meet the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision.
“is the largest collaboration in terms of the defense industry between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Spain, and thus has contributed to expanding the strategic relationship between the two countries.”
Royal Saudi Navy, Vice Admiral Al-Ghofaily
The Vice Admiral praised the commitment of Navantia, which has put “its best shipbuilding resources” into achieving this goal, as well as all the participants in the program, both from Saudi Arabia and Spain, and the Navy.
SAMI’s CTO, for his part, pointed out that “today is a great day for both countries, a day that culminates the intense collaboration between the Royal Saudi Arabian Navy and its partners: Navantia, SAMI and SAMINavantia, who are building capabilities in Saudi Arabia to support the needs of its Royal Navy.
The director of Navantia’s Corvettes and Maritime Action Ships Business, José Antonio Rodríguez Poch, highlighted the important support of the Spanish Navy for the program, as well as the historic milestone of the delivery of three ships in one year. For this reason, he has praised the work of the entire team, “the workers, the Royal Saudi Navy, the Spanish Navy and the auxiliary industry.”
The Avante 2200 program
The HAIL corvette has a length of 104 meters, a beam of 14 and is capable of transporting 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 first unit was launched (in July 2020), Navantia launched the five units with a cadence of four months between each one of them. them, which meant achieving this milestone in a record time of three years. Deliveries are taking place after just over three years from the cutting of the first plate of each ship.
The corvettes are based on the Avante 2200 design, adapted to Saudi Arabian requirements, offering advanced performance, excellent seakeeping, high survivability and ability to operate at extreme temperatures.
In parallel, around 500 crew members of these corvettes are completing the training process at the Navantia Training Center (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, 6,000 jobs over five years. Of these, more than 1,100 are direct employees, more than 1,800 employees from collaborating industry (more than a hundred companies participate) and more than 3,000 indirect employees generated by other suppliers.
The program, whose last ship must be delivered in 2024, includes, in addition to construction, Life Cycle Support for five years, from the delivery of the first ship, with an option for another five additional years.
It also includes the provision of various services, such as integrated logistics support, operational and maintenance training, provision of Training and Training Centers for the Combat System and Platform Control System of ships, Life Cycle Support and systems for the maintenance of ships at the Jeddah Naval Base.
