Spanish shipbuilder Navantia launched a new corvette for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) at its facilities in the Bay of Cádiz on Sunday, October 25.
The futute Neom is the seventh corvette built by Navantia for the RSNF and the second of three vessels in a follow-on batch ordered by the Saudi Ministry of Defence in December 2024. Five earlier ships were built between 2019 and 2024.
The corvette's keel was laid at San Fernando in May. Her launch follows that of the first follow-on ship, Al-Madinah, in June. The keel of the third ship was laid in July.
Navantia will deliver Al-Madinah in Spain. Neom and the third vessel will instead be sent to Saudi Arabia, where the combat system will be installed, integrated and tested, as it was for the fourth and fifth ships of the original contract.
Joint venture SAMINavantia is supplying the Hazem combat system for all three follow-on corvettes.
Delivery of the final ship is scheduled for 2029. The contract announcement in December 2024 had given 2028.
Navantia Chairman Ricardo Domínguez said the programme's rate of one launch every four months was in line with its industrial schedule.
The follow-on ships will be identical to the Avante 2200 units already in service with the RSNF. The earlier vessels measure 104 metres long with a beam of 14 metres and can accommodate 102 people.
Equipment includes the Hermesys system for integrated communications, the Dorna system for fire control, Minerva integrated bridge, and propulsion engines and gearboxes built under licence from MTU and Schelde respectively.