Saudi Arabia: Navy frigate programme, FREMM or LCS?note

The Saudi Navy frigate programme has been focusing until now on two main vessels. The first one is the FREMM- class frigate, which is designed and built jointly by DCNS of France and Finmeccanica/Fincantieri of Italy. The other one is the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), which is designed and built by either a Lockheed Martin-led consortium or a General Dynamics-led consortium. The following 398-word article published in Tactical Report Weekly Brief’s issue of July 4, 2008, talks about how Assistant Defence Minister for Military Affairs Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz compares between the two vessels. It also talks about the considerations on which the Saudi Navy command bases its procurement policy.