Arab Navy

The Arab Navy (Arabic: البحرية العربية al-baḥriyah al-‘arabīyah) is the maritime warfare branch of the armed forces of the Arab Union. The Navy is the second largest active service branch by number of personnel. It is responsible for the protection of the territorial waters of the union, as well as projecting power overseas, and is considered a blue-water navy.

Budapest Naval Station, near Port Said, Palestinian Arab Republic, is the headquarters of the Arab Navy and its General Staff. There are an additional 33 operational naval bases in the Arab Union, as well as 5 abroad (one in Iran, one in Russia, one in Vietnam, and two in China).

Organisation
The Arab Navy consists of three corps, with all fleets, divisions and elements subordinate to a particular corps. The first and largest corps is the Admiralty Corps; this corps consists of all regular elements of the navy, meaning all fleets and subordinate flotillas, divisions, task forces and elements including all relevant personnel. All naval ships are found within the hierarchy of the Admiralty Corps.

The second is the Naval Air Corps; this corps consists of all airpower available to the navy, and is to be distinguished from the Arab Air Force, the land-based (and larger) air warfare service of the Union Defence Forces. Each of the Arab Navy's six aircraft carriers belongs to a specific fleet or battle fleet of the Admiralty Corps, whereas the actual aircraft using the aircraft carrier are part of a specific wing or division of the Naval Air Corps. The majority of aircraft operated by the Naval Air Corps are capable of landing on aircraft carriers; however, the Naval Air Corps does employ large military transport jets as well, which are used for two primary purposes: as reconnaissance aircraft, and as refuelling vectors for other Naval Air Corps aircraft.

The third and smallest of the three corps is the Amphibious Corps; this corps functions as the Marines of the Arab Navy, consisting of highly-trained infantry units inserted amphibiously, either directly via amphibious landing craft (which belong to the Amphibious Corps) or indirectly via airlift by the Naval Air Corps, which is also responsible for providing close air support to the land operations of amphibious infantry units upon their deployment.