On April 12, 2018, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed ibn Salman al Saud, during his official visit to Spain, signed a whole package of agreements that finalized a long-term contract for the construction of five corvettes of the Avante 2200 project for the Saudi Arabian Navy. Navantia. The total value of the deal is about two billion euros. Previously, four such corvettes were also acquired by Venezuela, however, with a much weaker composition of weapons, in fact, in this case, it was about patrol ships.
Ships for Venezuela were built from 2008 to 2011 and incorporated into the Venezuelan Navy in 2011-2012. The ships received by Venezuela are known as the Guaykeri-class patrol ships, after the name of the first ship in the series. They belong to the AVANTE 2200 Patrol type, for 4 of these ships and 4 more patrol ships to patrol the coast of the AVANTE 1400 project Venezuela then paid 2.3 billion dollars. The Saudi Arabian Navy has acquired a more versatile combat version of missile-armed ships - the AVANTE 2200 Combatant.
The ships will be built by the well-known Spanish shipbuilding company Navantia, which specializes in both military and civil shipbuilding. The company was founded back in 1730 and has a rich history, today it is the fifth largest shipbuilding company in Europe and the ninth largest in the world. It was at the shipyards of the Navantia company that the only light Spanish aircraft carrier, the Prince of Asturias, was built at one time, and the universal amphibious assault ship-aircraft carrier Juan Carlos I was also built there. In addition to directly 5 corvettes of the AVANTE 2200 Combatant project, which will be built in the southernmost province of Spain, Cadiz in the city of San Fernando, Saudi Arabia, under the contract, will receive the necessary infrastructure in the city of Jeddah for their basing, Spain will also train future ship crews (about 600 people). All five corvettes must be built in Spain within 5 years after the signing of the contract.
AVANTE 2200 Patrol
According to the bmpd blog, the Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) has signed an agreement with the Spanish shipbuilding company Navantia to create a joint venture that will partially localize a number of electronic weapons systems for ordered corvettes in Saudi Arabia. Also, the installation and integration of these systems will be carried out here not only on the corvettes of the AVANTE 2200 project, but also on other promising ships and boats of the Saudi fleet. It is also assumed that the joint venture will provide technical support and repair of corvettes while they are in the Saudi Arabian Navy.
The four ships previously built in Spain for the Venezuelan Navy belonged to the AVANTE 2200 Patrol project, they were also known under the abbreviation POVZEE - Patrullero Oceánico de Vigilancia de la Zona Económica Exclusiva (ocean patrol of the exclusive economic zone). According to their purpose and the composition of weapons, the ships built for Venezuela were patrol ships of the oceanic zone with limited combat capabilities. Their main tasks were patrolling the exclusive economic zone, protecting maritime navigation, surveillance, electronic warfare, combating piracy, smuggling, drug trafficking, illegal migration, and conducting search and rescue operations at sea.
Unlike the Guaiquerí-class corvettes of the Venezuelan Navy, the ships of the modified AVANTE 2200 Combatant project for the Saudi Arabian Navy can be called full-fledged corvettes. The ships will have more powerful weapons, which turns them into real combat multifunctional ships of the ocean zone. The total displacement of the corvettes will be 2,470 tons, length - 98.9 meters, width - 13.6 meters, draft - 3.8 meters. They will be able to take on board up to 111 crew members.
Model AVANTE 2200 Combatant, exhibition ADAS 2014
Corvettes will receive a two-shaft diesel power plant, consisting of 4 diesel engines with a capacity of 4 x 4440 kW and four diesel generators - 4x570 kW. This power plant will provide the ship with a maximum speed of 25 knots (46.3 km / h). Cruising range - 4500 nautical miles (8334 km). Corvettes of the AVANTE 2200 project can successfully operate in any geographical conditions both in coastal waters and in the open sea, with the exception of the arctic zones.
On board the corvette AVANTE 2200 Combatant there is a helicopter hangar and a flight deck, the ship can take on board medium sea helicopters weighing up to 10 tons. We are talking, in particular, about the NHI NH90, Agusta-Bell AB.212, Agusta-Bell AB.412 and Eurocopter AS-565 Panther helicopters. Also, on both sides of the covered helicopter hangar, there is space for two rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIB) up to 7 meters in length.
The ship's armament will be represented by anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, artillery mounts and machine guns. In particular, the website of the Navantia company indicates that the ships will be armed with 4 anti-ship missiles (two twin 2x2 installations) and 8 anti-aircraft guided missiles placed in vertical launchers. At the same time, mock-ups, as well as renders with an increased composition of weapons - up to 8 anti-ship missiles (2x4) and up to 16 cells for missiles were shown earlier at exhibitions. Apparently, the composition of the armament can change according to the requirements of the customer, since the displacement and size of the corvettes make it easy to increase the composition of the armament for certain requirements. According to the bmpd blog, the corvettes will be armed with Boeing Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles and Raytheon ESSM anti-aircraft missiles.
The artillery armament of the ship will be represented by one 76-mm universal artillery mount, most likely 76 mm / 62 Super Rapid of the Italian company OTO Melara, and one 30-mm automatic artillery mount. In addition, 4 large-caliber machine guns of 12.7 mm caliber will be installed on board, as well as two three-tube torpedo tubes. The armament also includes two decoys (IR traps and dipole reflectors).
The performance characteristics of the AVANTE 2200 Combatant:
Length - 98.9 m.
Width - 13.6 m.
Draft - 3.8 m.
The maximum displacement is 2470 tons.
The maximum speed is 25 knots.
Cruising range - 4500 nautical miles.
Artillery armament - 1x76-mm universal mount, 1x30-mm automatic mount.
Missile armament - anti-ship missiles (2x2 or 2x4) and missiles in vertical launchers (8 or 16 cells).
The crew is up to 111 people.
Additionally: a hangar and a platform for a medium sea helicopter (up to 10 tons), up to two boats - up to 7 m.
