Navantia launches the fifth Al Jubail-class corvette Unayzah for Royal Navy of Saudi Arabia.

According to information published by the Spanish Shipyard Navantia on December 4, 2021, the fifth Al Jubail-class corvette for the Royal Navy of Saudi Arabia (RSNF) named Unayzah was launched by the Spanish shipyard Navantia on Saturday, December 4, 2021, in the city of San Fernando of the province of Cadiz, Kingdom of Spain.
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The fifth Al Jubail-class corvette for the Royal Navy of Saudi Arabia was launched by the Spanish Shipyard Navantia on December 4, 2021, (Picture source Navantia)

Under the patronage of the Commander of the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF), Lt. Gen. Admiral Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Ghufaili, the RSNF have 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, Kingdom of 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.

On 12 July 2018 the Government of Saudi Arabia has signed the contract for the construction of five corvettes, an operation that reaches an amount of 1,8 billion Euros, the biggest one in the history of the public Spanish shipyards with a foreign client. Spanish shipbuilder Navantia signed a joint-venture agreement with state-owned Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) to build five corvettes based on Avante 2000 for Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF). Under the agreement, the last vessel must be delivered in 2024, including construction, Life Cycle Support for five years, with an option for another five years.

The Jubail-class corvette is based on the "AVANTE 2200" design adapted to the requirements of the Navy of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi corvette is longer than the 98.9 m patrol version with a lenght of 104 to accommodate larger engines. She 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 (Combined diesel and diesel) arrangement.

The Al Jubail-class corvette is armed with one Leonardo SUPER RAPID 76mm main gun, Rheinmetall Air Defense MILLENNIUM 35mm close-in weapon system, four 12.7mm machine guns, 2x3 torpedo tubes, 2x4 anti-ship missiles and 32 ESSM surface-to-air missiles (8-cell Mk 41).