Date: Issue 98 - April 2020
The Qatari Emiri Navy (QEN), also called the Qatari Emiri Naval Forces (QENF), is the naval branch of the Qatar Armed Forces.
Personnel: Over 4,000 together with Coast Guard, Marine Police and Coastal Artillery
Base Locations: QEN's headquarters is at Doha. Major Naval Bases are located at Al-Daayen Naval Base (operated by Coast Guard, located in Semaisima, 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Doha), Halul Island (one of the main bases for the Qatari Navy is located in Halul Island) and Ras Abu Aboud. The new naval base of the Qatari Emiri Navy is under construction at Hamad Port (a commercial port inaugurated in 2017 and is located south of Doha in Al Wakra)
Fleet:
FPBs: 4 x Barzan Class (56m Vita type) FPBs, 3 x DAMASH Class (Combattante III type) FPBs, 3 x MRTP 34 (That Assuary Class) FPBs, 4 x MRTP24/U Special Operation Craft (SOCs) and 4 x MRTP24/U Fast Missile Craft
Patrol Crafts (PCs): 3 x MRTP16 and 10 x MRTP 20 Fast Intervention Boats (FIBs, deliveries ongoing), 26 Hercules FPBs (at Coast Guard service, deliveries will be completed by the end of 2020), 4 x Vosper patrol boats, 6 x Vosper 110 ft. Class PCs, 6 x Damen Polycat 1450 Cass PCs, 2 x Keith Nelson type 44 ft. Class PCs, 2 x Fairey Marine Interceptor class PCs, 4 x MV-45 class PCs, 25 x Fairy Marine Spear Class PCs, 5 x P-1500 Class PCs, 4 x DV-15 Class FIBs and 3 x Helmatic M-160 class PCs
Landing Ships: 1 x Robha Class LCT and 4 x LCUs
NB: On March 31, 2014, Nakilat Damen Shipyards Qatar (NDSQ, a joint venture between Damen and Qatar's Nakilat) and QEN signed two Letter of Intents (LoIs) for the construction of seven vessels at Qatar's premier shipyard with a value of US$851 Million. The MoUs cover six 50 m (164 ft)-long axe-bow high-speed patrol boats and one 52 m (171 ft)-long diving support vessel. The 6 x Damen 5009 Class patrol boats are currently under construction at NDSQ and are scheduled to be delivered in 2024. In June 2016, Fincantieri of Italy signed a €4 Billion contract with the Qatari Minister of State for Defense Affairs for the construction of seven surface vessels that are currently under construction in Italy at Muggiano (Las Spezia) Shipyard. The contract included the construction of 4 x Doha Class air defense corvettes (the first of the Doha Class corvette was launched on February 27, 2020), 2 x OPV/FACM type ships and 1 x air defense LPD. During DIMDEX 2018 Exhibition the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces has placed an order for two Cadet Training Ships (CTS) to Turkish private shipbuilder Anadolu Shipyards.