Qatar orders new navy from Fincantieri

Qatar navy

The long-awaited Qatari order for several major naval vessels has finally been agreed, with the Italian shipyard Fincantieri announcing on 16 June that it had won the contract after seeing off determined competition.

Fincantieri said senior Qatari officials had signed a contract that day worth approximately EUR4 billion (USD4.5 billion) to the shipyard covering the construction and delivery of seven vessels, as well as support services for 15 years. All the vessels will be built in Fincantieri shipyards in Italy over a six-year period starting in 2018.

The press release said the vessels include four corvettes over 100 m in length, one landing platform dock (LPD) amphibious warfare vessel, and two offshore patrol vessels (OPVs).

IHS Jane’s understands that the corvettes will displace about 3,000 tonnes and have a helicopter deck and hangar. Leonardo-Finmeccanica will supply Athena combat management systems (CMS) and Kronos radars for the vessels.

Air defence missiles will include both MBDA Aster 30 in vertical launchers and short-range Raytheon RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles. Their other armament will consist of MBDA Excocet MM40 Block 3 anti-ship missiles, a single 76 mm Super Rapid gun, and two 30 mm guns.

The US government has already approved the sale of 252 RIM-116C missiles to Qatar, which announced in March that it has ordered land-based anti-ship missile systems with both Exocet MM40 Block 3 and MBDA Marte ER missiles.

The corvettes will also be fitted with the Elettronica Virgilius electronic warfare suite and Leonardo-Finmeccanica Black Snake torpedo detection array with associated acoustic countermeasures.

The LPD will be similar to the 143 m vessel that Fincantieri built for Algeria, while the OPVs will be an evolution on the Falaj-class patrol boats that it built for the United Arab Emirates. These will be fitted with the Athena CMS, Kronos radar, 76 mm main guns, Exocet missiles, and MBDA VL Mica surface-to-air missiles.
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