The induction ceremony for the second Gowind class corvette was attended by key officials, including Mohamed bin Mubarak bin Fadhel Al Mazrouei, Minister of State for Defence Affairs; Staff Lieutenant General Issa Saif bin Ablan Al Mazrouei, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces; and Staff Lieutenant General Ibrahim Nasser Al Alawi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence.
“The vessel reflects the Navy’s commitment to strengthening its defence operations and securing the nation’s waters. I also commend all national efforts that contributed to its design and development and remain committed to investing in cutting-edge military technologies.”
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Defence
Naval Group delivered Al Emarat corvette to the UAE Navy on 27th June 2024 in Lorient. After the delivery, the Al Emarat crew took part operational training in France as part of the service solutions offered by Naval Group.
Al Emarat is the second Gowind corvette ordered by the UAE to Naval Group in 2019. Built in Lorient and launched in May 2022, she started her sea trials in October 2023, at the time when the first corvette, Bani Yas, was delivered.
The Gowind corvettes for the UAE Navy were built at Naval Group’s Lorient shipyard, incorporating equipment manufactured locally by UAE industry. Naval Group is stepping up its relationship with the United Arab Emirates Navy to meet its future challenges.
The Al Emarat Corvette has an overall length of 102 meters, a beam of 16 meters, and a displacement of 2,800 tons.
The corvettes feature the Panoramic Sensors and Intelligence Module (PSIM) integrated mast that includes almost all the sensor systems of the ship such as radars, optronics, electronic warfare suite, communication antennas, ship weather systems, etc. The electronic equipment includes a Thales NS110 surveillance radar with integrated IFF, a STIR 1.2 EO Mk2 FCR, a new integrated R-ESM/C-ESM system by Elettronica (Elt) Roma, a HGH IRST system based on two SPYNEL-X 8000 electro-optical sensors fixed on either side of PSIM, four up-link antennas and transmitter for the guidance of SAM, Thales KINGKLIP Mk2 HMS and CAPTAS-2 VDS, TDS, and two navigation radars. French company iXblue supplied its Marins navigation systems and Netans data distribution and processing units for these UAE Navy corvettes. Integrated with PSIM are a pair of hanging remote-controlled dual head Glamox CL25 searchlights featuring white HMI and UV lights.
The weapon systems suite consists of:
- An OTO 76mm SR gun with STRALES system (and DART guided ammunition) main gun
- 16x VL MICA (VL MICA NG in the future) SAM
- 8x MM40 EXOCET Block 3C SSM in two quadruple launchers amidships
- two triple torpedo launchers for MU90 lightweight torpedoes
- 21-cell RAM CIWS
- 2x remote weapon stations (RWS)
- 2x guided rocket launchers (by LIG Nex1)
