Two warships from Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) with 76 cadets from Al-Fahd Naval College will be on goodwill visit to India for the first time this week. The purpose of this visit is to foster deeper understanding, develop mutual trust and identify fresh avenues of cooperation in defense relations.
The interesting features of the visit are:
- The visit by RSNF ships is a result of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium organized by India in February this year.
- The warships will be on visit to Mumbai from July 29 -31.
- The visiting ships are:
- ‘ Al-Dammam ‘ a modified French La Fayette-class stealth frigate
- ‘ Al-Yanbu ‘ a modified American-built Endurance-class destroyer
- The RSNF with Head Quarters at Riyadh is having Western Fleet operating from Jeddah and Eastern Fleet operating from Jubail.
- The RSNF has the responsibility to defend a coast line of 2640 km and has more than 12,000 officers, including 1,300 Marines.
- The fleet includes French-built frigates, US-built corvettes and British-built Sandown class mine hunters.
- During the visit,the Saudi Arabian officers and cadets are likely to visit some of the warships like Talwar-class stealth frigates, Rajput-class guided-missile destroyers and other defense establishments of Indian Navy.
Here is an interesting interview on ‘ Modernizing the Naval Fleet ‘ with RSNF Commander Prince Fahd Bin Abdullah, conducted by the Editorial Manager General S. Abou Ismail of Al Defaiya Magazine.
More information regarding the visit is here at Arab News and The Times of India.
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