RIYADH: HMS Al-Jubail arrived at the King Faisal Naval Base in the Western Fleet in the presence of Saudi Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Fayyad Bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili, according to a statement on Thursday.
The Royal Saudi Naval Forces held an official reception for the ship which arrived after being manufactured in Spain by Navantia.
The CEO of Saudi Arabian Military Industries, Walid bin Abdulmajeed Abukhaled, said the arrival of HMS Jubail emphasizes SAMI’s progress in reaching its goal of supporting the localization of 50 percent of military spending by 2030.
It is the first ship to enter service as part of the “Sarawat Project” which includes the manufacture and construction of five naval vessels with advanced capabilities.
The Avante 2200-class corvette has capabilities to handle air, surface, or subsurface targets.
During the reception ceremony, Al-Ruwaili boarded the ship, toured its various sections, and inspected its modern and high-tech equipment before writing a note in the ship’s log.
Commander of the Royal Saudi Naval Forces Gen. Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Ghufaili described the arrival and reception of the ship as a “historical moment.”
He said: “Receiving the ship is a great and historic occasion, and it is the first vessel of the Sarawat project, which we will soon celebrate receiving successively.”
He said the ship took nearly four years to be built at Navantia’s shipyard in the Bay of Cadiz, Spain.
Al-Ghufaili said after the keel laying ceremony took place, the float-out process took place. This was followed by quality control tests in the port and at sea, the inauguration of the ship, training the crew, and finally preparing and setting sail for the Kingdom.
