Lieutenant General Khaled Khaled, Commander of the Naval Forces, attend the inauguration ceremony of the stealth frigate Luxor (986) of the Gowind class, at the Alexandria arsenal. She is the third frigate that is being built in the homeland, in cooperation with Naval Group, one of the French industry leaders in shipbuilding and manufacturing technology. The governor of Alexandria attended a ceremony and a high-level French delegation headed by the French ambassador to Egypt and as well as executives, workers and engineers of Alexandria Shipyard Company for Marine Industries.
The ENS Luxor, built by the Alexandria Shipyard Company in cooperation with France’s Naval Group, was launched on 14 May. The Ship has a total length of 102 metres, a width of 16 metres, displacement of 2 600 tonnes and a maximum speed of 25 knots. Range at 15 knots is 3 700 nautical miles. Including a helicopter detachment, crew is 65 persons. Egypt’s first locally produced Gowind corvette, ENS Port Said, was launched during a ceremony in Alexandria on 6 September 2018 while the second locally built vessel, Al-Moez, was launched on 12 May 2019.
In 2014, Egypt signed a €1bn contract with Naval Group to buy four Gowind 2500 corvettes with an option for two more. Separately, MBDA negotiated a contract to equip the ships with MICA Vertical Launch air-defense missiles and MM40 Block 3 Exocet anti-ship missiles, together worth an additional 400 million euros, while Naval Group negotiated a 100-200 million euro contract for torpedoes. Three of the corvettes are to be built locally by Alexandria Shipyard within a technology transfer agreement.
The Gowind design is a family of steel monohull frigates, corvettes and offshore patrol vessels developed since 2006 by France’s Naval Group, formerly known as DCNS, to conduct missions in littoral zone such as anti-submarine warfare (ASW). The Gowind family includes vessels with lengths from 85 meter to 111 meter and displacement from 1,000 tons to 3,100 tons. Naval Group offers two variants of the design: Gowind 1000 and Gowind 2500 while Malaysia with the assistance of Naval Group locally developed the Gowind 3100.
