The HAIL corbeta has been delivered in the shipyard of San Fernando three years after the cutting of its first sheet (Photo Navantia)

Navantia has delivered to the Royal Saudi Navy on Sunday the third of the five corbettes built in its shipyards of the Bay of Cadiz, the construction 548, named Hail, in an event held in the facilities of the shipyard of San Fernando. The next two units will be delivered in Saudi Arabia.

Navantia has delivered the corbeta to the Royal Saudi Navy three years after the cutting of its first sheet (September 2019), thus meeting both the demanding quality requirements and the deadlines. It is one of the most competitive and capable vessels in its segment, as demonstrated in the sea tests carried out in the waters of the Bay of Cadiz.

The HAIL corbeta has a length of 104 meters, a sleeve of 14 and is able to transport a total of 102 people between crew and passage. The contract for the construction of five corbetas entered into force in November 2018 and, since the launch of the first unit (in July 2020), Navantia launched the five units with a cadence of four months between each of them, which meant achieving this milestone in a record time of three years. The deliveries are taking place after a little more than three years from the cutting of the first sheet of each ship.

The corbites are based on the Avante 2200 design, adapted to Saudi Arabia's requirements, offering advanced performance, excellent sea performance, high survival capacity and operating capacity at extreme temperatures.

In parallel, about 500 crew members of these corbettes are completing the training and training process at the Navantia Training Centre (NTC) in San Fernando.

In addition to the corbette contract, Navantia agreed with SAMI (Saudi Arabian Military Industries) to create a joint venture in Saudi Arabia, an alliance that allows Navantia to position its integrated systems and technologically advanced solutions in the Arab market and area of influence, and is aligned with the company's internationalization strategy (Photo Navantia)

The contract involves an overall workload of about seven million hours, 6,000 jobs for five years. Of these, more than 1,100 are direct employees, more than 1,800 employees in the collaborative industry (more than 100 companies participate) and more than 3,000 indirect employees generated by other suppliers.

The programme, the last ship to be delivered in 2024, includes, in addition to the construction, Life Cycle Support for five years, since the first ship was delivered, with an additional five years option.

It also includes the provision of several services, such as integrated logistical support, operational and maintenance training, the provision of Training and Training Centres for the Combat System and Platform Control System for Ships, Life Cycle Support and ship maintenance systems at the Jeddah Naval Base.