On January 24, 2023, an official launching ceremony of the L 141 Al Fulk amphibious helicopter dock ship under construction for the Qatari Navy took place at the enterprise of the Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri in Palermo. The transfer of the ship to the Qatari customer is scheduled for 2024.
Launched at the enterprise of the Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri in Palermo, an amphibious helicopter dock ship L 141 Al Fulk under construction for the Qatari Navy, 24.01.2023 (c) the Ministry of Defense of Qatar Recall that in June 2016, the Minister of Defense of Qatar signed and in August 2017 entered into force contracts with the Fincantieri association for the construction of seven warships for the Qatari Navy in the period up to 2024 - an amphibious helicopter dock ship, four large Doha-type corvettes and two "patrol ships" (actually small missile ships/corvettes) of the Musherib type.
Contracts were signed with the European missile association MBDA for the supply of weapons for these ships. In fact, this refers to the construction of a new fleet for Qatar, since until recently the largest units of the Qatari Navy were seven missile boats with a displacement of no more than 500 tons.
The total value of the contracts is estimated at 5 billion euros, of which 3.9 billion euros was the cost of four corvettes and a landing ship dock, and more than 1 billion euros - the cost of two "patrol ships" with missile weapons. This made these contracts the largest in the history of Italian export shipbuilding. The cost of the contracts includes the construction of a ground infrastructure in Qatar for basing ships, training of personnel (640 ship crews and 320 shore technical personnel) and technical and service support of ships for 10 years. The main part of the weapons and electronic systems for the ordered ships is supplied by the Italian company Leonardo, and the missile armament is supplied by MBDA (in which Leonardo controls 25%). MBDA's share in the contracts is estimated at about 700 million euros, and Leonardo - up to 2 billion euros.
The amphibious helicopter dock ship (DVKD) for the Qatari Navy, ordered under this contract, was designed on the basis of the Kalaat Beni Abbes ship previously built by Fincantieri for Algeria. The actual construction of the L 141 Al Fulk for Qatar was started at the Fincantieri shipyard in Palermo in 2021, its official laying took place there on May 17, 2022.
According to Fincantieri, the ship for Qatar has a total displacement of about 9,000 tons, a length of about 143 m and a width of 21.5 m (that is, it is similar in size to Kalaat Beni Abbes) and will be able to accommodate about 550 people on board. It will be equipped with two landing ramps and a dock chamber accommodating an LCM-type landing boat. The ship will also accommodate three small LCVP-type landing boats launched by davits and several high-speed motor boats. Permanent basing of aviation equipment is not provided, the upper flight deck is designed to accommodate an NH90 type transport helicopter.
A special feature of the Al Fulk DVCD for Qatar is its purpose as the flagship of the fleet and the collective air defense support ship. The ship is equipped with the integrated Leonardo Kronos Grand 3D radar system with AFAR and the new powerful Leonardo Kronos Power Shield air and ballistic target detection radar with L-band AFAR, as well as the MBDA SAAM-ESD ship-based anti-aircraft missile system with 16 vertical Aster 30 Block 1 anti-aircraft missile launchers. The armament of the DVKD also includes a 76-mm Leonardo Super Rapid universal artillery installation and four 30-mm Leonardo Marlin WS-30 artillery installations.
The four Doha-type corvettes ordered by Qatar under the same contract (classified as frigates in the Qatari Navy) are based on the Multipurpose Corvette export project developed by Fincantieri and represent very large ships with a total displacement of 3,250 tons and a length of 107 m, a width of 14.7 and a draft of 4.2 m, their construction was carried out at the Fincantieri shipbuilding company in Mudgiano near Spices. The head corvette F 101 Al Zubarah of the Doha type of four ordered under this contract was started construction in Mudgiano on July 30, 2018, officially laid down on November 27, 2018, launched on February 27, 2020 and began sea trials on November 18, 2020. On October 28, 2021, the F 101 Al Zubarah corvette was officially handed over to the Qatar Navy. The second F 102 Damsah corvette was launched in Mudgiano on February 13, 2021, entered testing in June 2021 and was transferred to the Qatar Navy on April 28, 2022. On September 12, 2022, both the first Al Zubarah and Damsah corvettes arrived in Qatar. The third corvette F 103 Al Khor was launched on September 30, 2021 and was delivered to the customer on December 22, 2022. The fourth corvette F 104 Sumaysimah was officially laid down on February 13, 2021 and launched on March 29, 2022, its delivery is scheduled for 2023.
Both "patrol" (small missile) ships for Qatar under this contract of the Musherib type were also built in Mudgiano. These ships have a total displacement of 745 tons, a length of 63.8 meters, a width of 9.2 meters, a draft of 5.65 meters, and are in fact a slightly enlarged version of two small Ghantoot-type missile corvettes (Falaj 2 project) built by Fincantieri for the UAE Navy and commissioned in 2013. The Qatari lead ship Q 61 Musherib was laid down in Mudgiano on February 27, 2019, launched there on September 18, 2020, entered sea trials on March 25, 2021 and was transferred to the Qatari Navy on January 28, 2022. The second Qatari ship of the same type, Q 62 Sheraouh, was launched in Mudgiano on June 5, 2021 and handed over to the Qatari Navy on July 8, 2022.
Launching at the enterprise of the Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri in Palermo of the amphibious helicopter dock ship L 141 Al Fulk under construction for the Qatari Navy, 24.01.2023 (c) Fincantieri and the Ministry of Defense of Qatar Video: