CAIRO, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian army launched on Friday the first home-made Gowind-class corvette as part of a 2014 contract with France to upgrade the country's marine fleet.
The warship, named the Port Said Frigate, was manufactured by the army' Alexandria Shipyard Company in cooperation with France's state-owned shipbuilder Naval Group, according to an army statement.
"The frigate is the most advanced piece of Egypt's marine forces," state-run Ahram Online website quoted Ahmed Khaled, commander of the Egyptian Naval Forces, as saying during the launching ceremony.
The warship is aimed to enhance Egypt's naval capabilities in the Red Sea and Mediterranean, ensure safe maritime navigation and bolster the security of the Suez Canal, Khaled said.
The corvette frigate is part of a deal worth 1 billion euros (1.16 billion U.S. dollars) signed with France in 2014 to provide four naval frigates to the Egyptian naval forces.
Egypt received the first corvette frigate manufactured by the French company in September 2017.
Under the deal, the other three corvettes will be built in Egypt under a transfer of technology agreement.
Designed for surveillance and surface and subsurface combat, the multi-mission corvette can also perform monitoring and policing missions.
In recent years, Egypt has signed deals worth multi-billion dollars with a number of European countries to boost its military capabilities amid regional turmoil and conflicts.
