Musherib Class Fast Attack Craft Overview
The Musherib class is a fast attack craft and offshore patrol vessel design built by Fincantieri for the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces. The class was developed under Qatar’s wider naval acquisition program, which also included Al Zubarah-class corvettes and an amphibious landing platform dock. Although identified in the Qatari program as an OPV, Fincantieri markets the design within its fast attack craft portfolio and notes that it was designed in accordance with RINAMIL rules for Fast Patrol Vessels.
The class comprises two vessels, Musherib and Sheraouh, both delivered in 2022. The design is intended to give Qatar a compact but combat-capable patrol platform for maritime surveillance, coastal security, interdiction and armed surface-combat missions in the Gulf and surrounding sea lanes.
Development and Delivery
Fincantieri built the Musherib-class vessels at its integrated military shipbuilding facilities in Italy, with activity associated with the Riva Trigoso and Muggiano yards. The first-in-class Musherib was technically launched at Muggiano in September 2020 and delivered in January 2022. The second vessel, Sheraouh, followed in July 2022, completing the two-ship OPV element of Qatar’s Fincantieri naval modernization package.
The vessels were conceived as more heavily equipped patrol combatants than conventional constabulary OPVs. Their sensor and weapons fit gives the class credible self-defense, anti-surface and limited local air-defense capability while retaining the size, speed and endurance profile of a fast patrol vessel.
Design and Propulsion
The Musherib-class hull measures 63.80m overall, with a beam of 9.20m and full-load displacement of approximately 725t. The ship’s dimensions place it between a large patrol craft and a small corvette, giving the class the space required for a modern combat system, missile armament and an embarked rigid-hull inflatable boat while keeping operating demands below those of a larger surface combatant.
Propulsion is based on four diesel propulsion engines driving four variable-pitch propellers, arranged with two shafts to starboard and two to port. This configuration supports a maximum speed of 30kt and a range of 1,500nmi at an economical speed of 15kt. Endurance is stated as seven days, which is sufficient for routine maritime security patrols, escort tasks and short-duration combatant operations in Qatar’s regional operating environment.
Combat System, Sensors and Mission Equipment
The class is fitted with a sensor suite centered on a multifunction radar identified by Fincantieri as Kronos HP. The broader suite includes IFF interrogator and transponder equipment, electronic support measures for radar and communications, an infrared search-and-track system, radar and electro-optical fire-control systems, and X-band and S-band navigation radars. The integrated navigation package includes DGPS, echo sounder, speed-log and meteorological sensors.
For patrol and boarding operations, the vessel can carry and launch an RHIB using a stern-mounted crane. This supports visit, board, search and seizure tasks, maritime interception, force-protection patrols and security operations around ports, offshore energy infrastructure and high-value naval units.
Armament and Roles
The Musherib class carries a weapon fit that is unusually substantial for a vessel of its displacement. Its main gun is a 76/62mm Super Rapid Multi Feeding naval gun, supported by 30mm secondary guns and 12.7mm machine guns for close-range engagements. The missile fit includes VL MICA surface-to-air missiles and Exocet surface-to-surface missiles, enabling the class to engage aerial threats and surface targets beyond gun range. Air-defense decoy launchers provide an additional soft-kill defensive layer.
Operationally, the class can conduct maritime patrol, surveillance, interdiction, escort, presence missions and combat-ship duties. Its combination of missiles, medium-caliber gun armament, electro-optical fire control and an RHIB capability makes it suited to a spectrum of missions ranging from peacetime maritime security to higher-intensity coastal-defense tasks.
