On March 5, 2024, a contract signing ceremony took place at the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition between the Qatari Emiri Naval Forces (QENF) and Dearsan Shipyard for the design and construction of 2 units of 50-meter fast attack craft.
The Commander of the Qatari Naval Forces, Rear Admiral Abdullah bin Hassan Al Sulaiti, President of the Defense Industry, Professor Dr. Haluk Görgün, and Dearsan Shipyard Chairman, Mr. Aziz Yıldırım, took part in the ceremony.
The 50-meter attack craft is based on the FAC 46 design of the shipyard. The vessels will be 50.7 meters long and 9.20 meters wide. The estimated displacement is expected to be more than 320 tons. The FAC 46 Design, on which the new vessels are based, has 3 diesel engines as main machinery. The vessel has a maximum speed of 40+ knots and a range of 1000 nautical miles.
According to Dearsan, the armament of the two fast attack craft will include a 40mm main gun, two 12.7mm remotely controlled weapon stations, and two 12.7mm manually controlled machine guns. Additionally, the vessels will be equipped with anti-ship and air defense missiles. Although the specific models of these weapons were not disclosed by the company, it can be speculated that the new vessels might be fitted with weapons of Italian origin, as the QENF commonly uses Italian-made weapons.
The high-speed assault boats will be capable of handling various tasks effectively, including asymmetric warfare, patrol missions, protection of regional waters, counter-piracy operations, reconnaissance and surveillance, search and rescue, disaster relief operations, border control, base and port security. They will be equipped with weapon systems for surface warfare, air defense warfare, and asymmetric warfare.
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