Saudi frigate Al Riyadh
Al Riyadh is an of the Royal Saudi Navy.
Development and design
Al Riyadh is an expanded anti-air version of the French, displacing about and extended to in length.The frigate's 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 main gun of the Al Riyadh frigates is the OTO Melara 76 mm super-rapid firing gun replacing the modèle 100 TR automatic gun of the La Fayette class. 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 Riyadh was launched on 1 August 2000 at the DCNS dockyard in Lorient and commissioned on 26 July 2002.''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 (816): commissioned in 2004