Leonardo has completed upgrading six Fast Attack Craft (FAC) naval ships for the Royal Bahrain Naval Force, the company announced last week.
The Italian company handed over the final vessel, RBNS Al Taweelah, at a grand ceremony held at Royal Bahrain Navy Head Quarter in Mina Salman. The craft was delivered after it successfully completed all the integrated sea acceptance tests.
Al Taweelah is one of four Ahmed Al Fateh class FACs that were built by Germany’s Lürssen for Bahrain in the 1980s.
The upgrade of the last ship involved fitting it with state-of-the-art systems, which included a new combat management system (CMS) that integrates and coordinates information from the vessel’s sensors.
The CMS also allows automatic coordination of weapons systems during threat assessment, planning, and control of arms during missions.
In the upgrade of previous units, the work involved enhancing a new weapon control system, logical support, and training services.
About the Contract
In September 2015, Bahrain awarded a 50 million euros (then $57 million) contract to Leonardo to upgrade the six naval vessels, which included two of the Al Manama class and four of the Ahmed Al Fateh class.
The country received its first upgraded vessel, Al Manama, in December 2017.
Leonardo has equipped systems and technologies in over 1,000 vessels for more than 70 international navies.
