Kuwait Equips 8 Al Dorra Missile Boats With Rheinmetall MASS Against Anti-Ship Missiles.

Kuwait will equip all eight Al Dorra-class missile boats with Rheinmetall’s Multi Ammunition Softkill System, giving the new vessels a non-kinetic defensive layer against modern anti-ship missiles. Rheinmetall disclosed the order on July 10, 2026, with deliveries running from the second quarter of 2026 through the second quarter of 2029.

MASS deploys decoys designed to confuse radar, infrared, electro-optical, ultraviolet, and laser-guided seekers rather than destroy incoming weapons. The system will improve the boats’ survivability in contested coastal waters by disrupting missile targeting and increasing the chance that an attack misses.

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Kuwait will equip its eight Al Dorra-class missile boats with Rheinmetall MASS launchers and OmniTrap multispectral decoys to counter radar-, infrared-, and laser-guided anti-ship missiles (Picture source: U.S. DoW).

The order forms part of Kuwait’s AED 9 billion, approximately $2.45 billion, procurement of eight 62-metre missile boats under a contract signed with EDGE on June 3, 2025. EDGE is responsible for design, construction, trials, delivery, integrated logistics support, in-service support, and ammunition, while ADSB is the principal shipbuilder. ST Engineering received a separate six-year subcontract worth about S$600 million in April 2026 to provide the ship design and engineering package and construct three of the eight vessels in Singapore. The first Kuwaiti vessel, Al Noukhitha, was launched in Abu Dhabi on February 3, 2026.

MASS is built around a trainable launcher containing 32 countermeasure rounds. Rheinmetall offers configurations with one to six launchers, each connected to its own control unit, although neither the company nor Kuwait has disclosed how many launchers will be installed on each Al Dorra missile boat. A single-launcher fit would provide 32 ready rounds per vessel; a two-launcher arrangement would double that figure and improve coverage if simultaneous threats approached from separated bearings. Each launcher weighs 342 kilograms, stands 1.1 metres high and requires a 1.3-metre sweeping radius. The launcher can rotate at 100 degrees per second on two axes, with an acceleration of 360 degrees per second squared, and uses pitch-and-roll compensation to maintain the programmed firing geometry while the ship manoeuvres.

The ammunition ordered by Kuwait is the OmniTrap-ER generation, which Rheinmetall identifies as having extended range and an improved trajectory for use against imaging-radar and infrared-guided threats. The OmniTrap ER MK2 round measures 81 by 360 millimetres and can be deployed from 10 to 400 metres from the launcher. Its countermeasure payload covers I-, J-, and Ka-band radar frequencies, infrared wavelengths from 2 to 14 micrometres, electro-optical sensors from 0.4 to 1.1 micrometres, solar-blind ultraviolet wavelengths from 0.3 to 0.4 micrometres, and laser wavelengths including 10.6 micrometres. The two-colour infrared coverage is significant because newer imaging infrared seekers compare spatial and spectral information rather than simply steering toward the strongest heat source. A countermeasure must therefore reproduce or obscure more of the ship’s observable signature than an older flare intended for a single-band detector.

MASS can employ different responses according to the seeker, engagement phase, and relative bearing. Before firm seeker acquisition, countermeasures can create an alternative radar or infrared return intended to draw the missile toward a false target area. After acquisition, the system can attempt seduction by generating a more attractive return and moving the apparent track away from the ship. In coastal waters, it can also create a multispectral screen intended to complicate classification by missile seekers, electro-optical directors, or laser designators. The 10-to-400-metre deployment envelope indicates that OmniTrap is intended to place countermeasures close enough to control their relationship with the ship’s signature rather than create a distant false vessel. This geometry requires accurate threat bearing, ship-motion data and timing; firing a decoy in the wrong sector can leave both the ship and countermeasure inside the seeker’s field of view.

For the Al Dorra class, MASS should be treated as one element of a layered defensive sequence rather than a substitute for surface-to-air missiles or close-in guns. Soft-kill measures offer two practical advantages on a 680-tonne missile boat: they do not depend on physically intercepting a manoeuvring target, and their rounds are generally less demanding in weight and volume than guided interceptors. Their limitations are equally important. Effectiveness depends on detecting the threat early enough, identifying the seeker type, selecting the correct countermeasure programme, and presenting a false signature that remains credible as the missile closes. A multispectral or network-assisted missile may reject an isolated radar or infrared anomaly, while an attack arriving from several bearings can consume ready rounds quickly. The undisclosed launcher count is therefore a material measure of the class’s actual defensive capacity.

Leonardo signed an approximately €320 million agreement with ADSB on May 20, 2026, to provide combat systems for the Kuwaiti Falaj 3 configuration, but it has not published the selected radar, combat-management system, naval gun, or missile models. MASS will need to exchange threat and engagement data with those systems through Ethernet, RS-422, or another standard interface; it can also operate independently if required. The distinction matters because automatic cueing from radar, electronic-support, and laser-warning sensors reduces the interval between detection and countermeasure launch, whereas stand-alone operation places more responsibility on local sensors and operator reaction. Rheinmetall also offers an integrated sensor suite using the SME-150 radar-warning receiver and Naval Laser Warning System, but the company has not stated that Kuwait purchased this option.

Published data for the underlying Falaj 3 design list a length of 62.7 metres, displacement of 680 tonnes, maximum speed of 26.5 knots, range of 2,000 nautical miles at 16 knots, and operation up to Sea State 5. Those figures describe a missile boat sized for patrol, escort, and coastal combat rather than sustained area air defence. MASS addresses the resulting survivability problem directly: a small combatant has limited interceptor capacity, limited space for redundant sensors, and less tolerance for a missile hit than a frigate. The Kuwaiti order does not eliminate those constraints, but it adds 32 programmable countermeasures for every launcher installed and gives the combat system another engagement option before committing scarce hard-kill weapons. The operational value will ultimately depend on launcher quantity, sensor integration, threat-library quality, ammunition stocks, and the extent to which crews train soft-kill and hard-kill responses as one sequence.

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Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.