MADRID — Under the patronage of the Commander of the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF), Lt. Gen. Adm. Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Ghufaili, the RSNF celebrated the ceremonial launching of the last warship of "AVANTE 2200" Corvette, which is the 5th warship of its type within the Sarawat Corvette Project.

The warship was officially named, His Majesty's Ship "Unayzah", as part of its ceremonial launching held at the shipyard of the Navantia Naval Industries Co., in the city of San Fernando of the province of Cadiz, Spain.

The ceremonial launching was attended by the Saudi Military Attaché to Madrid; Vice President of Saudi Arabian Military Industries Company (SAMI) for military purchase sector Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Azl; a number of RSNF senior officers; a number of senior officials from the Spanish Navy; representatives from "Sami-Navantia" and "Spanish Navantia" companies and other parties.

To mark the occasion RSNF Commander Lt. Gen. Adm. Al-Ghufaili delivered a speech in which he expressed his happiness on the launching of His Majesty's Ship "Unayzah", praising the unlimited support being provided by the leadership of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy prime minister and minister of defense.

He also commended support of Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Khalid Bin Salman.

He said the Sarawat Corvette project will contribute to raising the level of readiness of the RSNF, enhancing maritime security in the region and protecting the vital strategic interests of the Kingdom, citing the project as an important addition to the capabilities of the RSNF in protecting the Kingdom's maritime interests and localizing advanced military industries technically.

The RSNF Commander added that the warships of Sarawat Corvette Project are distinguished by having the latest combat systems to deal with all air threats, surface and subsurface, as well as electronic wars that have more capabilities than many of the world’s navies, and they are also a great addition to the capabilities of the Royal Saudi Naval Forces to protect the capabilities and interests of the nation’s maritime.

The Sarawat Corvette Project includes the training services for crews, training simulators, logistics, and long-term after-sales technical and logistical support.

His Majesty's Ships "Jazan", "Unayzah" and all other warships of the Sarawat Corvette Project will also be equipped with the first battle management system which is a "100%" Saudi production system under the name "HAZEM", which was developed by national cadres and an integrated work team as part of the mission of the "Sami-Navantia" company within "Avante 2200" project.

For his part, the SAMI CEO, Eng. Walid Bin Abdulmajeed Abu Khaled expressed in a speech SAMI's pride of its strategic partnership with RSNF and Spanish Navantia Company, which culminated in receiving His Majesty's Ship "Unayzah" which is the 5th and last warship of its type within Sarawat Corvette Project to build 5 “Avante 2200” Corvette warships.

He said that this strategic partnership contributed to many achievements that "We are proud of, such as the establishment of ‘Sami-Navantia’ joint project, in addition to the launch of ‘HAZEM’ system, which is the first 100% Saudi marine operations management system developed through the transfer of technology from Navantia, and the launch of an on-the-job training program in which 21 Saudi male and female engineers participated.”

Abu Khaled also stressed that the successful completion of the project constitutes a quantum leap in our partnership efforts aimed at enhancing the capabilities of Saudi Arabia in the field of maritime technology systems and the development of the Saudi defense system in order to support the Kingdom’s efforts to localize more than 50% of military spending in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. — SPA