On August 27, 2023, the Royal Saudi Navy (RSN) made headlines as it took command of two naval task forces in the Persian Gulf — Combined Task Force 152 of the Combined Maritime Forces and Coalition Task Force Sentinel of the International Maritime Security Construct. Breaking away from a decades-long reputation as a reluctant naval player, Saudi Arabia is showing a significant turnaround in its maritime thinking.
Historically, U.S. protection, a shortage of trained personnel, a threat perception primarily focused on land and air menaces, and the sky-high technical burden associated with building an efficient modern navy have induced the Saudis to outsource maritime security, primarily to the U.S. However, uncertainty about Washington’s long-term willingness to meet Saudi leadership’s security expectations, a steep deterioration in the maritime security landscape resulting from proliferating asymmetric threats, and a Saudi rising desire to pursue national strategic interests with greater leeway have prompted Riyadh to overhaul its naval posture.
Riyadh looks at the possibility of a regional conflagration growing out of the Israeli-Gaza war as a national security concern and has directly engaged with Tehran to try to defuse the risk of a dangerous spillover of tensions. At the same time, the Saudis are keeping close defense coordination with U.S. forces.
Last week, U.S. troops stationed in Syria and Iraq came under fire from drone raids. With the USS Carney guided-missile destroyer intercepting three Houthi cruise missiles and several drones over the Red Sea, the confrontation also acquired a naval warfare layer.
Washington dispatched the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to the Middle East to join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Bataan amphibious ready group in the upper Red Sea. Riyadh will coordinate with the U.S. while trying to retain its fragile diplomatic achievements with Iran and the Houthis
The Kingdom’s growing naval ambitions have been evident for more than a decade and revolve around two main pillars: renovating and modernizing its fleet and taking the lead of U.S.-led multilateral task forces.
The Saudi fleet’s backbone comprises naval assets dating to the 1980s. The commissioning of three Al Riyadh-class frigates in the early 2000s bolstered the RSN’s naval muscle thanks to the warships’ anti-air warfare and blue-water capabilities but yielded only marginal improvement when addressing sea- and air-borne asymmetrical threats to offshore and coastal facilities. Thus Riyadh launched the Saudi Naval Expansion Program II, to overcome the shortage of modern surface combatants and neutralize an expanding array of hybrid security challenges.
Under this umbrella, Saudi Arabia and the Spanish shipbuilder Navantia inaugurated the $2.46 billion Al-Sarawat project in 2018. The Saudi-Spanish partnership aims to construct five Avante 2200 corvettes, which are next-generation warships equipped with top-notch combat systems capable of conducting cross-domain warfare operations. Three ships have already been delivered and the remaining two corvettes are expected to be commissioned by February 2024. They are set to become the flagship vessels of the RSN’s Western Fleet at the King Faisal Naval Base, Jeddah.
Another pillar of the Saudi naval modernization push involves a $1.96 billion deal with Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine for four Multi-Mission Surface Combatant ships. They are highly versatile littoral combat platforms with high-end anti-air and anti-surface weaponry systems. Expected to be completed by mid-2026, the vessels will become the Saudi Eastern Fleet’s most technologically advanced assets.
While necessary, expensive modern warships are not sufficient to convey naval prowess. Saudi Arabia must show it can use such ships in real-world scenarios.
Saudi Arabia has sought to convert the buildup into concrete at-sea applications by scaling up its contributions to U.S.-led maritime security coalitions and assuming a more prominent role in ensuring the safety of regional sea routes.
Within the framework of the Combined Maritime Forces – a U.S.-led partnership supported by 38 states — Saudi Arabia stands out among Persian Gulf Arab members, having led the coalition’s operative arm seven times. Tellingly, six rounds took place after 2017, and four commands in the past three years.
The other major task force, the International Maritime Security Construct, is a 12-nation coalition established in July 2019 to reassure merchant ships and deter malign activities. Since its military track launched in November 2019, British Naval officers have played a critical role in getting the coalition to full operational capability, leading eight out of ten rounds. Saudi Arabia, which is in charge of the construct’s task force sentinel for the current three-month term, is the only regional member to have assumed such leadership.
Leading these task forces represents an unparalleled opportunity for the Saudis to bolster their naval credentials and leadership skills even as they seek a more independent capability. The mounting sophistication of Saudi warships and growing contributions to multilateral maritime coalitions showcase the Saudi leadership’s resolve to become a medium naval power in regional waters.
Despite the modernization push’s inherent militaristic nature, this process should not be seen necessarily through the prism of the long rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. While threats to Saudi coastal facilities and international commercial shipping routes by Iran and its proxies still represent one of the Saudis’ most pressing security concerns, the Saudi naval buildup does not seem to be motivated by Riyadh’s desire to engage in an arms race with Tehran.
Iran retains such a significant military edge in naval warfare that pursuing a strategy predicated on achieving a maritime power balance with Tehran would prove to be a financially demanding endeavor and would not necessarily help the Kingdom meet its security needs. Such a strategy could also undermine a recent de-escalatory trend in Saudi-Iranian relations.
The Saudi push for naval prowess is aimed at deterring and neutralizing threats to Saudi strategic national interests and promoting a regional geopolitical climate conducive to durable stability. From luxury tourist destinations to a globally interconnected logistics hub and futuristic urban projects, most of the Kingdom’s economic diversification initiatives under the banner of Saudi Vision 2030 have a maritime dimension. Therefore, Riyadh is likely to put the development of sound naval defense capabilities front and center in its geostrategic agenda.
With Saudi Arabia aiming to bear a larger share of maritime security responsibilities in its immediate neighborhood, this process could have positive spillover effects assuming the Gaza war can be contained. It could gradually reduce Saudi reliance on Washington’s security guarantees, facilitating a decrease in the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf. It could also increase daily professional interactions between Saudi and Iranian naval forces, ideally prompting them to improve communications channels, develop incident prevention mechanisms, and design conflict-resolution tools.
Still, security conditions in the Persian Gulf remain fragile. As long as Houthi cross-border aerial strikes continue targeting Saudi Arabia and Iran continues harassing commercial vessels transiting regional waters, Riyadh is likely to carefully balance strengthening its naval might and pursuing détente with Tehran. The massive outburst of violence following Hamas’s Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel will require increased Saudi vigilance and cooperation with the U.S.
Leonardo Jacopo Maria Mazzucco is a researcher who focuses on the security affairs of the Persian Gulf region. He is also an analyst at Gulf State Analytics, a Washington DC-based geopolitical risk consultancy. He tweets @mazz_Leonardo.
Saudi Navy Assumes New Leadership Role in US-led Maritime Coalitions
By Leonardo Jacopo Maria Mazzucco
Middle East & North Africa
On August 27, 2023, the Royal Saudi Navy (RSN) made headlines as it took command of two naval task forces in the Persian Gulf — Combined Task Force 152 of the Combined Maritime Forces and Coalition Task Force Sentinel of the International Maritime Security Construct. Breaking away from a decades-long reputation as a reluctant naval player, Saudi Arabia is showing a significant turnaround in its maritime thinking.
Historically, U.S. protection, a shortage of trained personnel, a threat perception primarily focused on land and air menaces, and the sky-high technical burden associated with building an efficient modern navy have induced the Saudis to outsource maritime security, primarily to the U.S. However, uncertainty about Washington’s long-term willingness to meet Saudi leadership’s security expectations, a steep deterioration in the maritime security landscape resulting from proliferating asymmetric threats, and a Saudi rising desire to pursue national strategic interests with greater leeway have prompted Riyadh to overhaul its naval posture.
Riyadh looks at the possibility of a regional conflagration growing out of the Israeli-Gaza war as a national security concern and has directly engaged with Tehran to try to defuse the risk of a dangerous spillover of tensions. At the same time, the Saudis are keeping close defense coordination with U.S. forces.
Last week, U.S. troops stationed in Syria and Iraq came under fire from drone raids. With the USS Carney guided-missile destroyer intercepting three Houthi cruise missiles and several drones over the Red Sea, the confrontation also acquired a naval warfare layer.
Washington dispatched the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to the Middle East to join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Bataan amphibious ready group in the upper Red Sea. Riyadh will coordinate with the U.S. while trying to retain its fragile diplomatic achievements with Iran and the Houthis
The Kingdom’s growing naval ambitions have been evident for more than a decade and revolve around two main pillars: renovating and modernizing its fleet and taking the lead of U.S.-led multilateral task forces.
The Saudi fleet’s backbone comprises naval assets dating to the 1980s. The commissioning of three Al Riyadh-class frigates in the early 2000s bolstered the RSN’s naval muscle thanks to the warships’ anti-air warfare and blue-water capabilities but yielded only marginal improvement when addressing sea- and air-borne asymmetrical threats to offshore and coastal facilities. Thus Riyadh launched the Saudi Naval Expansion Program II, to overcome the shortage of modern surface combatants and neutralize an expanding array of hybrid security challenges.
Under this umbrella, Saudi Arabia and the Spanish shipbuilder Navantia inaugurated the $2.46 billion Al-Sarawat project in 2018. The Saudi-Spanish partnership aims to construct five Avante 2200 corvettes, which are next-generation warships equipped with top-notch combat systems capable of conducting cross-domain warfare operations. Three ships have already been delivered and the remaining two corvettes are expected to be commissioned by February 2024. They are set to become the flagship vessels of the RSN’s Western Fleet at the King Faisal Naval Base, Jeddah.
Another pillar of the Saudi naval modernization push involves a $1.96 billion deal with Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine for four Multi-Mission Surface Combatant ships. They are highly versatile littoral combat platforms with high-end anti-air and anti-surface weaponry systems. Expected to be completed by mid-2026, the vessels will become the Saudi Eastern Fleet’s most technologically advanced assets.
While necessary, expensive modern warships are not sufficient to convey naval prowess. Saudi Arabia must show it can use such ships in real-world scenarios.
Saudi Arabia has sought to convert the buildup into concrete at-sea applications by scaling up its contributions to U.S.-led maritime security coalitions and assuming a more prominent role in ensuring the safety of regional sea routes.
Within the framework of the Combined Maritime Forces – a U.S.-led partnership supported by 38 states — Saudi Arabia stands out among Persian Gulf Arab members, having led the coalition’s operative arm seven times. Tellingly, six rounds took place after 2017, and four commands in the past three years.
The other major task force, the International Maritime Security Construct, is a 12-nation coalition established in July 2019 to reassure merchant ships and deter malign activities. Since its military track launched in November 2019, British Naval officers have played a critical role in getting the coalition to full operational capability, leading eight out of ten rounds. Saudi Arabia, which is in charge of the construct’s task force sentinel for the current three-month term, is the only regional member to have assumed such leadership.
Leading these task forces represents an unparalleled opportunity for the Saudis to bolster their naval credentials and leadership skills even as they seek a more independent capability. The mounting sophistication of Saudi warships and growing contributions to multilateral maritime coalitions showcase the Saudi leadership’s resolve to become a medium naval power in regional waters.
Despite the modernization push’s inherent militaristic nature, this process should not be seen necessarily through the prism of the long rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. While threats to Saudi coastal facilities and international commercial shipping routes by Iran and its proxies still represent one of the Saudis’ most pressing security concerns, the Saudi naval buildup does not seem to be motivated by Riyadh’s desire to engage in an arms race with Tehran.
Iran retains such a significant military edge in naval warfare that pursuing a strategy predicated on achieving a maritime power balance with Tehran would prove to be a financially demanding endeavor and would not necessarily help the Kingdom meet its security needs. Such a strategy could also undermine a recent de-escalatory trend in Saudi-Iranian relations.
The Saudi push for naval prowess is aimed at deterring and neutralizing threats to Saudi strategic national interests and promoting a regional geopolitical climate conducive to durable stability. From luxury tourist destinations to a globally interconnected logistics hub and futuristic urban projects, most of the Kingdom’s economic diversification initiatives under the banner of Saudi Vision 2030 have a maritime dimension. Therefore, Riyadh is likely to put the development of sound naval defense capabilities front and center in its geostrategic agenda.
With Saudi Arabia aiming to bear a larger share of maritime security responsibilities in its immediate neighborhood, this process could have positive spillover effects assuming the Gaza war can be contained. It could gradually reduce Saudi reliance on Washington’s security guarantees, facilitating a decrease in the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf. It could also increase daily professional interactions between Saudi and Iranian naval forces, ideally prompting them to improve communications channels, develop incident prevention mechanisms, and design conflict-resolution tools.
Still, security conditions in the Persian Gulf remain fragile. As long as Houthi cross-border aerial strikes continue targeting Saudi Arabia and Iran continues harassing commercial vessels transiting regional waters, Riyadh is likely to carefully balance strengthening its naval might and pursuing détente with Tehran. The massive outburst of violence following Hamas’s Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel will require increased Saudi vigilance and cooperation with the U.S.
Leonardo Jacopo Maria Mazzucco is a researcher who focuses on the security affairs of the Persian Gulf region. He is also an analyst at Gulf State Analytics, a Washington DC-based geopolitical risk consultancy. He tweets @mazz_Leonardo.
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