Spanish defence shipbuilder Navantia has been awarded a contract under which the company will provide lifecycle support for the first five Avante 2200 corvettes already in service with the Royal Saudi Naval Force (RSNF).
The contract recently awarded by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Defence will be an extension of the current contract with Navantia, which came into effect with the commissioning of class lead ship Al-Jubail in 2022.
The agreement has a firm duration of five years and will also cover training, knowledge transfers, and the supply of spare parts, which will be manufactured in Saudi Arabia.
The support services will be carried out at King Faisal Naval Base in Jeddah.
Al-Jubail and her sisters are variants of Navantia's Avante 2000 series of corvettes, which were developed primarily for the export market. With the acquisition of these corvettes, Saudi Arabia became the second country to operate the Avante 2000 ships after Venezuela.
The RSNF variants, also known as the Avante 2200 series, feature modifications that enable them to operate under extreme temperatures. Their issions include anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, anti-air warfare, search and rescue, marine environmental protection, and humanitarian assistance.
