€320 million ($371 million) — that is the value of a new contract that will fit eight Kuwaiti missile boats with Italian combat systems, part of a head contract for the class that amounted to AED 9 billion ($2.45 billion) and was described as the largest naval shipbuilding export in Middle Eastern history.
Leonardo’s scope: a full combat suite for all eight Falaj 3 vessels
Under the agreement, Italy’s Leonardo will supply the full combat suite for the Al Dorra-class missile boats being built for the Kuwait Naval Force by Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB), the naval arm of the UAE’s EDGE Group. The €320 million ($371 million) deal covers combat management systems, long-range surveillance, and missile defence systems for all eight Falaj 3 configuration vessels. Leonardo already provides the same systems for the UAE Navy’s Baynunah-class corvettes, an industrial relationship that ADSB’s chief executive David Massey said stretches back more than two decades and has produced more than 25 delivered naval vessels.
The Al Dorra programme and the first hull
The Al Dorra programme sits beneath a June 2025 head contract signed between ADSB and Kuwait’s Ministry of Defence worth AED 9 billion ($2.45 billion). ADSB launched the first Al Dorra-class hull — AL NOUKHITHA (P 6202) — at its Abu Dhabi shipyard on 3 February 2026. Janes reported the vessel as a 62.7‑metre, 641‑tonne corvette capable of 25 knots and able to travel some 2,000 nautical miles at 16 knots. ADSB is expected to deliver all eight vessels over the next five to six years.
ST Engineering, the production footprint, and platform lineage
Singapore’s ST Engineering won a S$600 million sub-contract to design and supply platform systems for the eight missile boats and will build three of the vessels at its Singapore shipyard. That award follows a 2021 ADSB contract for four offshore patrol vessels for the UAE Navy, meaning the Falaj 3 production line now spans two navies and two shipyards. The design itself traces to the Fearless-class patrol vessels ST Engineering originally designed for the Republic of Singapore Navy in the 1990s, creating a lineage from a Singaporean patrol design through to the current Gulf-build programme.
EDGE and Leonardo’s planned joint venture: a pending industrial anchor
Both Leonardo and EDGE have framed the combat systems contract as a step toward deeper industrial ties. At the Dubai Airshow 2025 the two firms agreed to launch a joint venture in Abu Dhabi in 2026, with EDGE holding 51% and Leonardo 49%. The planned JV would cover design, development, testing, industrialisation, production, and through‑life support across sensors, system integration, and platforms. The Al Dorra combat systems contract adds a substantial backlog to the venture before it formally launches, with ADSB in the prime contractor role and European and Singaporean sub-system providers placed beneath it.
What this means for Kuwait, ADSB/EDGE, and ST Engineering
- Kuwait: The Al Dorra programme represents the country’s most significant naval recapitalisation in decades, according to the reporting. The boats will be armed with a UAE-designed platform and equipped with European combat systems and Singaporean platform engineering.
- ADSB/EDGE: As prime contractor on the AED 9 billion head contract, ADSB consolidates a role as a regional shipbuilder able to coordinate European and Asian subsystems while building at least part of the fleet at home in Abu Dhabi. The Leonardo contract strengthens ADSB’s two‑decade supplier relationships and adds supply-chain certainty ahead of multiple hull deliveries.
- ST Engineering: The S$600 million sub-contract not only secures platform-systems work and construction of three hulls in Singapore but also ties ST Engineering’s existing production line for Gulf customers to a recurring design lineage, extending output from a design that originated in the 1990s to contemporary Gulf naval programmes.
The transaction sits against a broader regional trend: Gulf states are accelerating naval procurement while tensions in the Strait of Hormuz persist and amid what reporting calls the “broader disruption of Operation Epic Fury.” For now, the immediate milestones are concrete: the launched AL NOUKHITHA hull, the €320 million combat-systems award to Leonardo, a S$600 million platform contract for ST Engineering, and the planned EDGE‑Leonardo joint venture scheduled to formalise in 2026. The programme’s delivery schedule — eight vessels in five to six years — and the JV’s ability to convert contract backlog into a sustained industrial partnership will determine whether this transaction remains a single procurement milestone or the foundation of a long‑term Gulf shipbuilding and systems ecosystem.
Original reporting: Quwa — Leonardo Wins €320M Combat Systems Deal for Kuwait’s Al Dorra Missile Boats as Gulf Naval Build-Up Accelerates
