The Sultanate of Oman’s corvette Qaliir al Amwaj, seen in May undergoing training at Portsmouth, England, was delivered on 19 March 1996. Ordered in 1992 from Vosper Thornycroft, the 1,415-ton (full load), 31-knot corvette and her sister are the largest Persian Gulf navy surface combatants ordered after Desert Storm and, like the others, lack any means of combating Iran’s two Kilo-class submarines—although the Omani pair may later receive a towed active sonar array. The corvettes carry eight MM 40 Exocet block II antiship missiles, a non-reloading Crotale NG surface-to-air missile system, one OTOBreda 76-mm gun, and two 20- mm cannon. There is a helicopter deck but no hangar on their 275-foot hulls.
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