ABU DHABI, 30 December 2003 — The United Arab Emirates Navy has signed a contract worth more than $500 million for six multipurpose missile Corvettes from Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB), the company announced in a statement released to AFP news agency yesterday.

The Baynunah class 70-meter long vessels will be designed by France’s Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie (CMN) under a subcontract from ADSB. The CMN will also build the first ship in France.

The remaining three vessels as well as two optional vessels will be built at ADSB’s shipyard in Abu Dhabi.

“Baynunah is the most significant defense contract ever awarded to a Gulf company,” said the statement quoting ADSB Chairman Abdullah Nasser ibn Huwaileel Al-Mansouri after a signing ceremony on Sunday.

“Baynunah will be the most sophisticated naval vessel of its size ever constructed,” it said. “Designed as a multimission Corvette, the vessel will have a cutting edge combat system with the capability to perform a wide range of military operations, including defense against both air and surface threats.

“The ship will utilize the latest in electronic sensor technology, along with a combination of newly developed missiles and guns, to provide a degree of defensive firepower that is unprecedented for vessels of this size.”

“There is no 70-meter ship in any navy in the world that can compare with Baynunah,” said Lawrence Holliday, ADSB’s chief executive officer.

“This will be a unique vessel that will offer more complex mission capabilities than any vessel of its type.”

Baynunah, boasting speeds of over 30 knots, will also serve as a base for helicopter missions and have a fully enclosed helicopter hangar area on deck.

ADSB, set up in 1996 by the UAE Offsets Group, bills itself as the only shipbuilder in the Gulf region with the capability to construct and repair complex naval warships.