Avante 2200

The Avante 2200 is a corvette design by the Navantia shipyard of Spain. Navantia has developed an Avante family of ships with different sizes, and adapted to different missions. They share the same design standard.^[3]

Guaiquerí
Class overview
Builders	Navantia, Cadiz, Puerto Real Yard
Operators	Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela  Royal Saudi Navy
Built	2009–present
In commission	2011–present
Planned	4 (Venezuela) 8 (Saudi Arabia)
Completed	4 (Venezuela) 5 (Saudi Arabia)
Active	3 (Venezuela) 3 (Saudi Arabia)
Lost	1 (Venezuela)
General characteristics
Type	Corvette
Displacement	2,419 tons
Length	99 m (324 ft 10 in)
Beam	13.6 m (44 ft 7 in)
Draught	3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Propulsion	CODAD, 4 × MTU 12V-1163-TB93 rated at 4,440 kW (5,950 hp) each 2 × shaft with Wärtsilä 5C11 controllable pitch propeller[1]
Speed	24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) maximum
Range	3,500 nmi (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	60 + 32
Sensors & processing systems	Thales SMART-S Mk-2 multifunction radar Leonardo Kronos NV 3D multifunctional radar (Al Jubail class) Thales Mirador EOTS Thales Vigile 100 ESM Thales Scout Mk2 LPI Thales Sting 1.2 Thales TACTICOS CMS
Armament	1 × Oto Melara 76 mm ('A' position) 1 × Oerlikon Millennium 35 mm Naval Revolver Gun System 4 × 12.7 mm machine guns 16-cell VLS[2](Saudi Arabia variant) 16 x VL Mica 8 × RGM-84 Harpoon block II anti-ship missiles (Saudi Arabia variant) 2 × 3 torpedo tubes (Saudi Arabia variant)
Aviation facilities	Flight deck, hangar

Navantia integrated multiple systems, including its Catiz combat management system, Hermesys integrated communications system, Dorna fire-control system and Minerva integrated bridge system.^[4]

Variants

Guaiquerí-class patrol boat

Main article: Guaiquerí-class patrol boat

Four Avante 2200 corvettes were built by Navantia to the Guaiquerí-class design for the Venezuelan Navy. The first ship was commissioned in April 2011 and the last in January 2012.

Name	Pennant	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
Guaiquerí	PC-21	Navantia, Spain	11 September 2008	24 June 2009	14 April 2011[5]
Warao	PC-22		12 May 2009	3 November 2009	August 2011	out of service after grounding incident in 2012.
Yekuana	PC-23		22 September 2009	1 March 2010	9 December 2011
Kariña	PC-24		17 February 2010	13 July 2010[6]	January 2012

Al Jubail-class corvette

In July 2018, Navantia signed an agreement with the Royal Saudi Navy for the production of five Avante 2200 corvettes, called Al Jubail-class corvette [es]. The last was to be delivered by 2022 at a cost of approximately 2 billion Euros.^[7]

Navantia signed a joint-venture agreement with state-owned Saudia Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) to build five corvettes based on the Avante 2200 for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF).^[8] Under the agreement, the last vessel must be delivered in 2024, including construction, life cycle support for five years, with an option for another five years. The RSNF variant is called the Avante 2200.^[9]

The Saudi Arabian variant is a 2,000-ton class vessel capable of performing anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW) and anti-air warfare (AAW). The Al Jubail-class corvette has a maximum range of 4,500 nautical miles, achieving 25 knots, powered by four diesel engines in a CODAD arrangement.^[10]

The Al Jubail class is fitted with a Leonardo SUPER RAPID 76 mm main gun, a Rheinmetall Air Defence MILLENNIUM 35mm close-in weapon system, four 12.7 mm machine guns, two triple torpedo tubes, two by quad anti-ship missiles and 64 ESSM surface-to-air missiles (16-cell Mk 41).^[11]

Ships in class

Name	Hull number	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned
Al Jubail	828	Navantia, Spain	15 January 2019	22 July 2020[12]
Al Diriyah	830		2019	14 November 2020[13]
Hail[14]	832		6 August 2020[15]	28 March 2021
Jazan	834		1 December 2020[16]	24 July 2021[17]
Unayzah[18]	836			4 December 2021