Abu Dhabi Shipbuilding company Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB, part of the Emirati State defense association EDGE Group), located in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), announced the ceremony of the first steel cutting and the start of construction for the UAE Navy of the head of four ordered patrol vessels on December 21, 2022 at its head shipyard in Mussaf ships (actually small rocket corvettes) of the new Falaj 3 project.
A rendered design image of a patrol ship (small missile corvette) of the Falaj 3 project for the UAE Navy (with) ADSB and LeonardoIn 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 patrol ships for the UAE Navy, with the delivery of all of them by the end of 2026.
This contract was the largest order in the history of ADSB. [...]
Earlier, the Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri, under a 2010 contract, built two patrol ships (small missile corvettes) of the Falaj 2 project developed by Fincantieri, commissioned in 2013 (P 251 Ghantoot and P 252 Qarnen) for the UAE Navy. The ships of the Falaj 2 project have a total displacement of about 650 tons, a length of 55.7 meters and a width of 8.8 meters. The option to the 2010 contract provided for the construction of two or four more such units in the UAE created with the participation of Fincantieri with the Emirati company Al Fattan Ship Industry by the Etihad Ship Building joint shipyard, but it was never implemented.
Now the UAE Navy has returned to the plan to build four more similar ships, however, it is reported that the Falaj 3 project was developed under a subcontract issued by the ADSB in November 2021 by the Singapore company ST Engineering based on the project of 12 small 550-ton 55-meter patrol ships built by the latter for the Singapore Navy in the 1990s. Fearless (by now decommissioned).
According to published data, the Emirati ships of the Falaj 3 project will have a total displacement of 641 tons, a length of 60 meters, a width of 9.5 meters and a draft of up to 3.4 meters. The main power plant is four-shaft, with four diesel engines powered by four propellers. The maximum speed is more than 26 knots, the cruising range is 2000 miles at a cruising speed of 16 knots. The crew is 39 people.
The Falaj 3 armament, judging by the widespread ADSB renderings, should include two twin-container launchers of Exocet MM40 Block 3 anti-ship missiles, a 21-charge Mk 49 Raytheon RAM short-range SAM launcher, a 76 mm/62 Leonardo (Oto Melara) Super Rapid universal automatic artillery system with a Davide (Strales) guided weapons system, as well as one 30-mm and two 12.7-mm remote-controlled installations of unknown type (most likely manufactured by Leonardo). A special feature of the ship's armament will be the inclusion of two South Korean 12-charge launchers of 130-mm adjustable missiles with a firing range of up to 36 km.
The main composition of the Falaj 3 electronic armament will be close to that of the Falaj 2 project ships and will also be represented mainly by Leonardo production systems (Selex Sistemi Integrati), which is selected by the system integrator of the new project ships. Leonardo's production systems will include the latest ATHENA C Mk 2 ASB, the Kronos 3D NV HP general detection radar system (as part of an integrated mast), the SIR-M surface target detection radar and the NA-30S Mk 2 dual-band radar/electron-optical fire control system. Also, the Rohde & Schwarz NAVICS communications complex, the new Elettronica electronic warfare complex and the Rheinmetall MASS firing jamming complex will be installed on Falaj 3.
The ceremony of the first steel cutting and the start of construction for the UAE Navy of the head of the four ordered patrol ships (small missile corvettes) of the new Falaj 3 project at the enterprise of the Emirati shipbuilding company Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) in Mussaf (Abu Dhabi, UAE), 12/21/2022 (c) ADSB A rendered design image of a patrol ship (small missile corvette) of the Falaj 3 project for the UAE Navy (c) ADSB
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A model of a patrol ship (small missile corvette) of the Falaj 3 project for the UAE Navy at the NAVDEX-2021 Naval Exhibition in Abu Dhabi (UAE), February 2021 (c) www.edrmagazine.eu
