The Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) has taken delivery of the final one of five Avante 2200 corvettes built by Spanish shipyard Navantia.
Unayzah and its four earlier Al-Jubail-class sisters are variants of Navantia's Avante 2000 series of corvettes, which were developed primarily for the export market. The RSNF ships, which are examples of the Avante 2200 sub-variant, feature modifications that will enable them to operate under extreme temperatures.
The corvette's missions will include anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, anti-air warfare, search and rescue (SAR), marine environmental protection, and humanitarian assistance.
Navantia also provided training for the RSNF crews who will operate the five corvettes in addition to undertaking life-cycle support for a firm period of five years in fulfillment of a contract with the Saudi government.
Unayzah has a length of 104 metres, a beam of 14 metres, a design draught of 3.8 metres, a displacement of 2,000 tonnes, space for 21 days' worth of provisions, and accommodations for 102 crewmembers and other personnel. Four MTU 4,440kW diesel engines in a combined diesel and diesel (CODAD) arrangement drive two controllable-pitch propellers to deliver speeds of up to 27 knots.
The armament consists of a Leonardo 76-millimetre naval gun for use against both surface and air targets, a Rheinmetall Oerlikon close-in weapon system for point defence, four 12.7-millimetre machine guns, Evolved Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, and torpedoes.
