Egypt launches another Gowind-class corvette in Alexandria

Egypt's armed forces have launched the second home-made Gowind-class corvette as part of a 2014 contract with France on May 12 to upgrade the country's marine fleet.

The Egyptian army said in a statement that the warship, named al-Moez, is manufactured by the army's Alexandria Shipyard Company in cooperation with France's state-owned shipbuilder Naval Group.

French Consul General in Alexandria Janina Herrera hailed deeply-rooted cooperation between France and Egypt, expressing hope that such ties would help boost their strategic partnership, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

The corvette frigate is part of a deal worth 1 billion euros (USD 1.12 billion) signed with France in 2014 to provide four naval frigates for the Egyptian naval forces.

Egypt received the first corvette frigate manufactured by the French company in September 2017 and built the second in September last year. The multi-mission corvette is designed for surveillance as well as surface and subsurface combat. It can also perform monitoring and policing missions. In recent years, Egypt has signed deals worth multi-billion dollars with a number of European countries to boost its military capabilities amid regional turmoil and conflicts.

The inauguration was attended by the Commander of the Egyptian Navy Vice Admiral Ahmed Khaled, the chairman of Alexandria shipyard, a number of top ranking army and navy officers, and the general counsel of France in Alexandria Janina Herrera.

Apart corvettes, the shipbuilder also delivered the FREMM multi-mission frigate Tahya Misr in August 2015 and two Mistral-class landing helicopter dock vessels to the Egyptian Navy in June 2016.

#المتحدث_العسكرى : الفريق محمد فريد يشهد مراسم تدشين الفرقاطة المصرية الثانية "المعز" pic.twitter.com/AyVXZIFXC7

— المتحدث العسكري (@EgyArmySpox) May 12, 2019

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