Navantia said it has held the keel-laying ceremony for the seventh corvette being built for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces at its San Fernando shipyard in Spain.
According to a Navantia press release on Friday, the vessel, identified as Construction No. 576, will be named HMS NEOM.
📌Spain’s @NavantiaOficial marked the keel-laying of HMS NEOM, the 7th corvette for Saudi Arabia’s navy.
📌The broader contract includes logistics support, crew training and industrial cooperation initiatives.
🔗https://t.co/sOSLcnoAtd pic.twitter.com/T6ORB232Fo
— Defensehere (@defensehere_en) May 11, 2026
The ceremony was conducted as a working event and included representatives from Navantia program teams and Royal Saudi Naval Forces personnel. The Saudi delegation was represented by Cmdre. Fareed M. Alharbi, director of the PMO ALSARAWAT Project, along with members of the Project Control Office team.
Navantia said the milestone places the first block of the second corvette in the current three-vessel series on the slipway. The company added that both HMS Al-Madinah, the first unit in the series, and HMS NEOM are preparing for launch in the coming months.
Alberto Cervantes, director of Navantia’s Corvette and Maritime Action Vessels Business Unit, thanked company employees and industry partners for reaching the milestone, according to the statement.
The final ship in the three-vessel batch is scheduled for delivery in 2029. Navantia said the first vessel will be delivered directly by the company, while the second and third ships will be completed in Saudi Arabia, including installation, integration and testing of the combat system.
The contract also includes an integrated logistics support package, crew training and an operational evaluation period by the Spanish Navy at Rota Naval Base, where Navantia will provide support services.
In addition, Navantia said it will train around 100 Saudi engineers under the Industrial Participation Agreement associated with the program.
According to the company, the overall contract represents approximately four million work hours in Spain’s Bay of Cádiz region and is expected to support up to 2,000 jobs, including direct, indirect and induced employment.