The ''Al-Quwaisat'' class is a series of

Landing Ship Tank A Landing Ship, Tank (LST) is a ship first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto a low-slope beach with no docks or piers. The shallow d ...

s (LSTs) of the

United Arab Emirates Navy The United Arab Emirates Navy (UAEN) is the naval branch of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. It is small force of about 3,000 personnel. It maintains 12 well-equipped coastal patrol boats and eight missile boats. Although primarily concer ...

(UAE Navy). They were built by the

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n company Shin Yang based on the company's 80 m LST design. Two ships have been completed and in service with UAE Navy with one more ordered in 2020.

Characteristics

The ''Al-Quwaisat'' class has a length of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of , and a draught of . The ship has a complement of 106. The LSTs have a capacity to carry

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

, marine troops,

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s and

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s. They have a displacement of 2,046 tonnes and a speed of for cruising and for maximum. The ships are armed with light defensive weapons such as 12.7 mm Browning M2HB machine guns.

Service history

The ''Al-Quwaisat'' class took part in UAE Navy operations in the Yemen conflict. They were involved in a logistic role to support allied forces in the operation. On 16 October 2024, ''Al-Quwaisat'' participated in a

Maritime Partnership Exercise Maritime Partnership Exercise (MPX) is a multilateral event conducted by Indian Navy in which naval forces of foreign countries participate. This exercise is conducted as part of the Indian Navy's ongoing efforts to enhance its operational capabil ...

with

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

's during its visit to

Port Rashid Mina Rashid (; ), also referred to as Port Rashid, is a man-made cruise terminal in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was Dubai's first commercial port; in 2018 cargo operations moved to Jebel Ali Port. It is a seafront coastal destination, touris ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

as a part of long range training deployment.

Ships of the class

References

{{Reflist Ships of the United Arab Emirates Navy