The Egyptian Ministry of Defence announced that the Egyptian Navy’s first DCNS Gowind 2500 corvette (the Elfateh) and second (S 42) Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) Type 209/1400 diesel-electric submarine (SSK) arrived at a naval facility at Alexandria on October 18.
According to a statement by the Egyptian navy, the submarines have a range of 11.000 nautical miles, a top speed of 21 knots and displacement of 1.400 tonnes.
Egypt said the Type 209/1400s will be able to launch missiles and torpedoes – it is believed they will be fitted with Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
The new Type 209s will most likely replace the Egyptian Navy’s four elderly Romeo class vessels delivered in 1983/84.
The Gowind 2500 displaces at 2,600-tons and is armed with a 76-mm main gun, two 20-mm cannons, two quad-cell MBDA Exocet anti-ship missiles (AShM), two-triple anti-submarine warfare (ASW) torpedoes, and a 16-cell SYLVER A35 vertical-launch system (VLS). The SYLVER VLS can house surface-to-air missiles (SAM) such as the MBDA MICA-VL (20 km) and MBDA Sea Ceptor (25+ km).
During the trip to Egypt, the corvette participated in a drill with the French navy in the Atlantic ocean. The deal is part of the armed forces support for “combat and technical capabilities” of naval forces, according to the Egyptian army official spokesperson.
Egypt has four Gowind 2500 corvettes on order under a €1 billion order from France in 2015 and four TKMS Type 209/1400 SSKs from Germany in 2012.