Saudi frigate Al Dammam

Al Dammam is a French-built of the Royal Saudi Navy.

Development and design

The frigate Al Dammam, is an expanded anti-air version of the French, displacing about and extended to in length.
The ships' combat system, produced by Armaris, is armed with Aster 15 Surface to Air Missiles launched from SYLVER vertical launchers. As with the La Fayette class, the primary offensive weapon is the anti-surface Exocet missile. The ships' main gun is the OTO Melara 76 mm super-rapid firing gun replacing the modèle 100 TR automatic gun of the La Fayette. There are also four aft-mounted torpedo tubes, firing DTCN F17 heavyweight anti-submarine torpedoes. Al Riyadh is capable of a maximum speed of ~ with a maximum range of.

Construction and career

Al Dammam was launched on 7 September 2002 at the DCNS shipyard in Lorient and commissioned on 23 October 2004.

''Al Riyadh''-class frigates

Three Al Riyadh-class frigates have been built:
;Al Riyadh : the lead ship commissioned in 2002
;Makkah (814): commissioned in 2004
;Al Dammam : commissioned in 2004