In 2019, the United Arab Emirates ordered two Gowind® corvettes to be built in France.

The first corvette, Bani Yas, was launched today in the Naval Group Lorient shipyard in presence of His Highness Sheikh Saeed bin Hamdan Al-Nahyan.

The second corvette is already under construction and will be launched next year.

Naval Group, as a turn-key solution provider, will also train the UAE Navy's crew from the equipment level up to the operational level. Starting in France, this preparation will continue with team-building and practice on operational scenarios in every warfare area in the Gulf.

Alain Guillou, Naval Group Senior Executive Vice President Development, stated: "We are honoured to welcome the UAE representatives to our shipyard to witness the launching of their first Gowind® corvette. These two surface combatants will provide the UAE Navy with new naval capabilities and this event marks a very important milestone for the program close to the highly symbolic day of the UAE 50th anniversary. The Bani Yas program illustrates Naval Group’s capability to deliver state of the art capabilities to meet specific requirements of its customers with the integration of diversified sensors and weapons through its SETIS Combat Management System".

Gowind® has also been selected by two other navies and is successfully in service with the Egyptian Navy.

GOWIND®: designed for naval operations Gowind® is a multi-mission Surface Combatant providing multiple simultaneous capabilities and designed to achieve, with the highest level of performance, the full spectrum of naval defence operations and maritime security roles.

Sturdy, strongly equipped, highly manoeuvrable, Gowind® integrates, through a combat proven Naval Group Combat Management System designed by Naval Group and innovative structural solutions, the latest generation sensors and weapons. Integrating all warfare capabilities above and underwater from the initial steps of the engineering process, Gowind® is multirole by design.

Gowind® is a sea proven, endurant, stealth and highly survivable platform offering:

• high performance warfare capabilities integrated through the SETIS® CMS and an efficient and innovative Panoramic Sensors and Intelligence Module (PSIM)

• automated systems for a user-friendly operations by an optimized crew

• large and smart deployable assets (heavy helicopter, UAVs, RHIBs) facilities to extend the warfare capabilities of the vessel

• growth potential driven by customer requirement and innovation Technical features

• Overall hull length: 102 m

• Overall beam: 16 m

• Displacement: 2,800 t

• Max speed: 25.5 knots

• Accommodation: 95 people

• Range: 21 days

• Propulsion: CODLOD

• Helicopter: 10-ton Class

• UAV: S-100 type

• RHIB: 2 x 7 m