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The Gowind design is a family of steel
monohull right A monohull is a type of boat having only one hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another. Fundamental concept Among the earliest hulls were simple logs, but these were generally unstab ...
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
s,
corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...
s and
offshore patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and th ...
s developed since 2006 by
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
's
Naval Group Naval Group is a major French industrial Corporate group, group specializing in navy, naval defense industry, defense design, development and shipbuilding, construction. Its headquarters are located in Paris. Heir to the French naval dockyards ...
, formerly known as DCNS, to conduct missions in the
littoral zone The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely flood ...
such as
anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...
(ASW). The Gowind family includes vessels with lengths from and displacement from 1,000 tons to 3,100 tons. The Gowind design can deploy
unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...
s (UAVs),
unmanned surface vehicle An unmanned surface vehicle, unmanned surface vessel or uncrewed surface vessel (USV), colloquially called a drone boat, drone ship or sea drone, is a boat or ship that operates on the surface of the water without a crew. USVs operate with v ...
s (USVs) and underwater unmanned vehicles (UUVs). An aft deck has been provided allowing for a 10-ton class
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 ...
or UAV operations. The platform's weapon system consists of a multi-functional
radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
and VL MICA
surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...
s (SAM). It is armed with
Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from Warship, surface vessels, Submarine, submarines, Helicopter, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guil ...
anti-ship missiles. The propulsion system is based on Combined Diesel and Diesel ( CODAD) and includes water-jets for improved maneuverability in shallow waters and high-speed performance. There is no
funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...
on these ships. The radar and other sensors are mounted on a single central mast thus allowing 360-degree view. 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. As of October 2021, the Greek government is in discussions with Naval Group about the acquisition of up to seven Gowind corvettes with three of them being built in Greece.


Product reorganisation

The Gowind class originally consisted of
offshore patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and th ...
s (OPVs) but after a rearrangement of products
Naval Group Naval Group is a major French industrial Corporate group, group specializing in navy, naval defense industry, defense design, development and shipbuilding, construction. Its headquarters are located in Paris. Heir to the French naval dockyards ...
decided to remove the OPV from the Gowind class and develop the OPVs as a class of their own with top of the range. To do so it formed the Kership joint venture with the Piriou shipyard in
Concarneau Concarneau (, meaning "Bay of Cornouaille") is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in Northwestern France. Concarneau is bordered to the west by the Baie ...
,
Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
in May 2013 to build and market lightly armed and armoured OPVs for customs, fishing and other home security missions. Naval Group said this would enable it to concentrate on "developing relations" with clients seeking heavily armed and armoured warships while Kership handles the more civilian-standard OPVs.


Class specifications


Gowind 1000

The Gowind 1000 is a 1,000-ton corvette designed for protection, escort and embargo naval missions in a littoral environment. The Gowind 1000 can also perform presence, surveillance, intelligence and policing missions. It is armed with: * 1 x
OTO Melara 76 mm The OTO Melara 76 mm gun, marketed as the OTO 76/62 Gun Mount, is a naval autocannon built and designed by the Italian Defense contractor, defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/ ...
main gun * 2 x Nexter Narwhal 20 mm cannon * 8 x VLS for MBDA VL MICA surface-to-air missiles * 4 x MBDA MM40
Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from Warship, surface vessels, Submarine, submarines, Helicopter, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guil ...
anti-ship missile launchers Sensors: *Integrated mast to integrate most sensors in a low observable design


Gowind 2500

The Gowind 2500 multi-mission corvette is designed for surveillance, surface and subsurface combat, protection and escort naval missions. It can also perform presence, maritime surveillance and policing missions against trafficking and piracy. The Gowind 2500 capitalizes on Naval Group's expertise in vessel
stealth Stealth may refer to: Military *Stealth technology, technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles **Stealth aircraft, aircraft which use stealth technology ** Stealth ground vehicle, ground vehicles which use stealth technology ** Ste ...
. The vessel is equipped with facilities for an embarked helicopter and drones. It is armed with: * 1 ×
OTO Melara 76 mm The OTO Melara 76 mm gun, marketed as the OTO 76/62 Gun Mount, is a naval autocannon built and designed by the Italian Defense contractor, defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/ ...
main gun * 2 × Nexter Narwhal 20 mm cannon * 16 × VLS for MBDA VL MICA surface-to-air missiles * 8 × MBDA MM40
Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from Warship, surface vessels, Submarine, submarines, Helicopter, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guil ...
anti-ship missile launchers * 2 × triple torpedo launchers Electronic warfare & decoys for Egypt's Gowind 2500: * Vigile 200 Tactical R-ESM System * Altesse Naval C-ESM * Sylena MK2 decoy launcher system


Gowind 3100

The Gowind 3100 is a frigate with the displacement of 3,100 tons and length of . It is armed with: * 1 × Bofors 57 mm main gun * 2 × MSI DS30M 30 mm cannon * 16 × VLS for MBDA VL MICA surface-to-air missiles * 8 ×
Naval Strike Missile The Naval Strike Missile (NSM) is an anti-ship and land-attack missile developed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA). The original Norwegian name was ''Nytt sjømålsmissil'' (literally "New sea target missile", indic ...
anti-ship missile launchers * 2 × triple torpedo launcher


Operators


Egypt

In 2014, Egypt signed a €1bn contract with Naval Group to buy four Gowind 2,500-ton corvettes with an option for two more. Separately, MBDA negotiated a contract to equip the ships with
MICA Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into fragile elastic plates. This characteristic is described as ''perfect basal cleavage''. Mica is co ...
vertical launch air-defense missiles and MM40 Block 3
Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from Warship, surface vessels, Submarine, submarines, Helicopter, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guil ...
anti-ship missiles, together worth an additional 400 million euros, while Naval Group negotiated a 100–200 million euro contract for
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
es. Three of the corvettes are to be built locally by Alexandria Shipyard within a technology transfer agreement. It was apparently President
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has been serving as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. After the 2011 Egyptian revolution and 201 ...
who decided these were the ships he wanted rather than the Meko A200 being offered by German group
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems TKMS –officially branded as ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems until June 2025– is a group and holding company of providers of naval vessels, surface ships and submarines. It was founded when large industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp acquired Howal ...
(TKMS) or the Sigma corvette proposed by Damen of the Netherlands. Egypt is in talks with France to acquire another two Gowind corvettes which, if ordered, would be produced by France in Lorient. In April 2015, Naval Group started cutting metal for the very first Gowind 2500 corvette, with a planned construction period of 29 months. It is the first of a series of four units that will be delivered to Egypt before 2019. The corvette's first block was laid in the dry dock in September 2015. Naval Group celebrated the launch of the first Egyptian Gowind corvette ''El Fateh'' at the Lorient naval shipyard in September 2016. ''El Fateh'' successfully concluded its first
sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...
s by the end of March 2017. The Egyptian Navy took delivery of the vessel in September 2017, three years after the order was placed. Alexandria Shipyard started cutting metal for the second Gowind corvette intended for the Egyptian Navy in April 2016. It is the first corvette to be built locally in Egypt. Naval Group sent supervision and technical assistance teams, technical data and necessary components to Alexandria for assisting Egypt in the local construction of the three corvettes. The company also provided training for the Egyptian staff at its site in Lorient. All the Panoramic Sensors and Intelligence Modules (PSIM) were produced and tested in Lorient by Naval Group and later shipped to Alexandria for installation on the corvettes. The launching ceremony of the second Gowind corvette ''Port Said'' took place in September 2018 in Alexandria. Construction work on the third vessel has already started. Its first block was laid in the dry dock by July 2018.


Malaysia

Malaysia is locally designing and building six stealth frigates displacing 3,100 tons and length 111 meter based on the design of the Gowind corvette. In 2023, it is confirmed that Malaysia will only build five instead of six ship after the sixth ship were cancelled.


Argentina

Argentina chose the OPV variant (Kership design). After repeated negotiations and break-offs. In February 2018 the
Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; ). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Argentine Army, Army and the Argentine ...
was instructed to restart negotiations with Naval Group for the procurement of four Gowind-class vessels. The decision was motivated by the meeting between Argentine President
Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...
and French President
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
at the annual
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...
summit in
Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...
, Switzerland. An order for four vessels was expected in July 2018. In November 2018, Argentina confirmed the purchase of four Gowind-class vessels. The purchase includes the already-built , which in 2016 visited the region on a marketing trip and three new vessels.


United Arab Emirates

In 2019 March 25, the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
had signed a contract with Naval Group for
Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
750 million (
USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
850m) for two 2500 class frigates (actually weighing 2,700 tonnes) with options for two more to be built in partnership with Abu Dhabi Ship Building Company (ADSB). They will be equipped with Naval Group's SETIS combat management system, MBDA's Exocet missile and VL MICA-NG missiles. This contract was announced in mid-June 2019 by Naval Group.


Cancelled


Romania

In July 2019, Naval Group won a €1.2 billion contract, which included the construction of four new Gowind multi-mission corvettes for the Romanian Navy. Naval Group was due to build the first corvette within three years while the remaining three corvettes were to be constructed by
Constanța Shipyard Constanța Shipyard () is the largest shipyard in Romania and one of the largest in Europe having a market share of 20% in the Black Sea basin. The shipyard has two drydocks, one used for the construction of ships up to , and the second one us ...
and delivered before 2026. The contract was cancelled by Romanian Ministry of Defence on 8 August 2023, following disagreements on the price of constructing the corvettes.


Potential operators


Indonesia

In January 2020, the Indonesian Minister of Defence
Prabowo Subianto Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo (born 17 October 1951) is an Indonesian politician, businessman, and former four-star Indonesian Army, army general who is serving as the eighth and current president of Indonesia since 2024. He was previously t ...
during a bilateral meeting in France with his French counterpart
Florence Parly Florence Parly (; born 8 May 1963) is a French politician who served as Minister of the Armed Forces (France), Minister of the Armed Forces under President of the French Republic, President Emmanuel Macron from 2017 to 2022. A former member of th ...
said the Indonesian Ministry is interested in French military equipment; including 36
Dassault Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", or "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French Twinjet, twin-engine, Canard (aeronautics), canard delta wing, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft designed and ...
aircraft, submarines and 2 Gowind corvettes. On 7 June 2021, Indonesia signed a letter of intent to buy two Gowind corvettes from France.


Greece

, Greece is interested in 5 Gowind 2800HN corvettes based on the Gowind 2500 for the
Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; , abbreviated ΠΝ) is the Navy, naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independ ...
as part of a $5 billion defence package.


See also

*
Littoral combat ship A littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for littoral warfare in near-shore operations by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface comba ...
* MILGEM project * * * * * * * *


References


External links


Alexandria shipyard

Gowind Official website


{{DEFAULTSORT:Gowind Class Corvette Ship types Corvettes of the Egyptian Navy