The Emirati state-owned defense industry group EDGE Group announced the signing on June 3, 2025 of a record contract worth 9 billion Emirati dirhams ($2.45 billion) for the construction of a series of small missile corvettes of the Falaj 3 project for the Kuwaiti navy. The number of contracted ships is not reported, but according to unofficial reports, it will amount to eight units. The construction of the corvettes will be carried out by Abu Dhabi-based Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB), a part of EDGE.
A rendered design image of a small rocket corvette of the Falaj 3 project (c) ADSB and Leonardo
According to the terms of the contract, EDGE will provide a full comprehensive supply of Falaj 3 corvettes to the Kuwaiti Navy, including the supply of weapons and missile ammunition, training of personnel and logistical support throughout operation.
Earlier in May 2021, ADSB signed a contract with the UAE Ministry of Defense worth 3.5 billion dirhams ($982 million) for the construction of four Falaj 3 project ships (officially referred to as "patrol ships") for the UAE Navy, with delivery of all of them by the end of 2026. At that time, this contract was the largest order in the history of ADSB. Construction of the lead ship of this project, P 163 Al Taf, for the UAE Navy began at the ADSB shipyard in Mussaf on December 21, 2022. The Al Taf ship was launched in almost full readiness on January 14, 2025 and formally commissioned into the UAE Navy on February 18, 2025. Three more ships of this type are under construction in Moussafa.The Falaj 3 project was developed under a subcontract issued by ADSB in November 2021 by the Singaporean company ST Engineering based on the project of 12 small 550-ton 55-meter patrol ships of the Fearless type built by the latter for the Singapore Navy in the 1990s (now decommissioned).
In fact, the ships of the Falaj 3 project are small missile corvettes. According to the designer, they have a total displacement of 680 tons, a maximum length of 62 m, a width of 9.5 m and a draft of 4.45 m. The main power plant is four-shaft, with four diesel engines powered by four propellers. The maximum cruising speed is 25-26 knots, the cruising range is 2,000 miles at a cruising speed of 16 knots. The crew consists of 39 people.
The very powerful weapons of the Falaj 3 ships designed for the UAE Navy include two twin-container launchers of Exocet MM40 Block 3 anti-ship missiles, eight vertical launchers of MBDA VL MICA short-range air defense systems, a 21-charge Mk 49 launcher of Raytheon RAM short-range air defense systems (with RIM-116 Block 1A and Block 2 anti-aircraft missiles), two South Korean 12-charge LOGIR launchers for 130-mm guided missiles (with a firing range of up to 36 km, the formal supplier of these complexes is the Emirati Halcon company, which is part of EDGE), the 76-mm/62 Leonardo (Oto Melara) Super Rapid universal automatic artillery system with the Davide guided weapons system (Strales) and Two remotely operated EOS R400-M artillery units with 30 mm Northrop Grumman M230F automatic cannons.
The main composition of Falaj 3 electronic weapons is represented mainly by systems manufactured by Leonardo (Selex Sistemi Integrati), which was selected by the system integrator of the ships of this project. Leonardo's systems include the ATHENA C Mk 2 automated control system, the Kronos 3D NV HP general detection radar (as part of an integrated mast), the SIR-M surface target detection radar and the NA-30S Mk 2 dual-band radar/electro-optical fire control system. Falaj 3 also has two Kelvin Hughes navigation radars, two HGH SPYNEL electro-optical systems, a Rohde & Schwarz NAVICS communications complex, a new electronic warfare system from Elettronica and a Rheinmetall MASS jamming system.
For the Kuwaiti Navy, receiving eight Falaj 3 small missile corvettes will be a radical upgrade and reinforcement of the ship's complement, the core of which still consists of two German-built missile boats from the 1980s that survived the Iraqi invasion of 1990 (equipped with Exocet MM40 anti-ship missiles), and eight 245-ton missile boats of the Combattante P37 project.-BRL French-built 1998-2000 (carrying only light Sea Skua anti-ship missiles).
For the Emirati company ADSB, the Kuwait contract marks the second radical breakthrough in the global shipbuilding market, after being signed in February 2023. html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">a contract worth 1 billion euros for the construction of three 71-meter small missile corvettes for the Angolan Navy according to the French BR71 Mk II project.
The ceremony of handing over to the UAE Navy the lead patrol ship (small missile corvette) P 163 Al Taf of the Falaj 3 project, built by the Emirati shipbuilding company Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB, as part of the EDGE group). Abu Dhabi, 02/18/2025 (c) ADSB
