Abu Dhabi Ship Building, arguably the most advanced defense contractor in the Arab states of the Gulf, recently began construction of the first of two 126-foot landing craft for the Royal Bahrain Navy.

The 420-ton steel-hulled vessel being built at the company's $30 million headquarters in the Mussafah industrial zone will be able to carry 136 soldiers and will have a range of 1,200 nautical miles. It is scheduled for delivery in July 2010, with the second in February 2011.

The ADSB yard is also slated to deliver two 55-foot Sea Keeper fast landing craft, built from composite materials and with a maximum payload of 8.5 tons, to Bahrain's naval forces in September this year.

Abu Dhabi, the richest of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, spearheads the nascent defense industry emerging in the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council -- the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.

ADSB was established in 1995 as a joint venture between Newport News Shipbuilding of Virginia (now owned by the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles) and the U.A.E. Offset Group.

It is now owned by the Abu Dhabi government, which has 50 percent of the shares, having bought out Newport News' 40 percent in 2001-02, with the other 50 percent held by 15,000 citizens.

Along with the state-owned Mubadala Development Co., set up in 2002 as Abu Dhabi's investment vehicle in sectors as diverse as aerospace, energy, infrastructure and services, ADSB is in the forefront of building up an indigenous defense sector.

Its main contract right now is a January 2004 order worth $1 billion to build five of the six planned Baynunah-class corvettes for the emirates' navy.

The first of those vessels is currently being outfitted by ADSB's strategic partner, Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie of Cherbourg, France, with delivery scheduled for later this year.

The vessels being built in Abu Dhabi, based on the French company's BR70 craft, should be delivered by 2013.

The Baynunah-class vessels, with waterjet propulsion and designed for multiple missions, represent "the most modern and sophisticated warship ever produced in any of the GCC countries," according to William Stewart, ADSB vice president for marketing.

The hope is that the Baynunah program, the company's most ambitious undertaking, could lead to further military contracts from GCC states, whose naval requirements by 2010 could, excluding the U.A.E., have a total value of around $7.3 billion.

ADSB bills itself as the only shipbuilder in the region with the capability to construct and repair complex naval vessels. As its capabilities grow it is looking toward potential exports as well.

The Omani coast guard signed on as its first export customer in 2003 with an order for a dozen 30-foot high-speed assault boats, 30 of which had been supplied earlier to the U.A.E. navy.

The 50-knot aluminum-hulled craft are designed by Sea-Spray Aluminum Boats Emirates of Ajman, one of the smaller states that form the U.A.E.

ADSB, with its close links to French shipbuilders, has the contract to maintain French naval vessels deployed in the Gulf region.

The company may also participate in planned upgrades for the U.A.E. navy's two Kortenaer-class frigates bought from the Netherlands in the late 1990s.

ADSB has also upgraded the U.A.E. navy's six Ban Yas TNC-45 missile craft built by Luerssen Werft of Bremen in 1990 under a $49 million contract.

The refit program included upgrading the MBDA MM40 Exocet 2 missiles aboard the 135-foot vessels with improved guidance and a land-attack capability, while their Saab Tech 9LV Mk2 combat management systems are being replaced with more advanced versions produced by Saab Tech Systems of Jarfalla, Sweden.