Saudi frigate Makkah

Makkah is an of the Royal Saudi Navy and was built in France.

Development and design

The frigate Makkah, 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. Makkah is capable of a maximum speed of ~ with a maximum range of.

Construction and career

Makkah was launched on 20 July 2001 at the DCNS dockyard in Lorient and commissioned on 3 April 2004.

''Al Riyadh''-class frigates

Three Al Riyadh-class frigates have been built:
; Al Riyadh : the lead ship commissioned in 2002
; Makkah : commissioned in 2004
; Al Dammam (816): commissioned in 2004