Fincantieri and Naval Group will modernize the Horizon frigates together with Mbda and Thales
At last week's Paris Air Show, Segredifesa signed bilateral agreements between Italy and France on defense including the Memorandum Of Understanding of the Mid-Life Upgrade of Horizon class naval units. The modernization will be entrusted to Naviris, the 50/50 joint venture of Fincantieri and Naval Group, and to Eurosam, a consortium formed by Mbda and Thales
Fincantieri will work on the mid-life modernization of the Horizon class frigates.
During the recent Paris Air Show, Italy and France signed bilateral agreements in the field of military procurement and in the identification of possible cooperation programmes. Specifically, the Secretary General of Defense and National Director of Armaments, General Luciano Portolano and his French counterpart jointly signed both the Roadmap Capability, concerning procurement and the identification of possible cooperation programs between the parties, and the memorandum d the agreement relating to the Mid-Life Upgrade of the Horizon-class naval units, which provides for their modernization by Naviris, the 50/50 joint venture of Fincantieri and Naval Group, and Eurosam, a consortium formed by MBDA and Thales .
A formal contract will be signed in the coming weeks by Naviris, Eurosam and Occar (Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation), representing Italy and France, a Fincantieri statement announced on 27 June.
“This contract marks the continuation of a long-lasting industrial collaboration between France and Italy. The modernization of the Horizon frigates, carried out jointly by the two countries through Naviris, is part of this continuity” comments the note from the naval group led by Pierroberto Folgiero.
All the details
THE COOPERATION ON THE HORIZON CLASS
This step follows a feasibility study, awarded in July 2020 to Naviris as prime-contractor and by Occar. The study represented the first phase of the project and focused mainly on the ships' anti-aircraft defense system. It aimed to identify and analyze the modifications to be implemented on the Italian and French Horizon-class frigates to increase their capabilities until the end of their life cycle.
The cooperation will cover the overall modernization of the frigates, with particular attention to the anti-aircraft defense system (including radars, weapons and their command and control), the combat platform and system, and the electronic warfare system which will be common to both nations.
AT WORK WITH EUROSAM, LEONARDO, THALES, MBDA AND SIGEN
Therefore Naviris will work in close collaboration with the co-contractor Eurosam, the parent companies Fincantieri and Naval Group and the other industrial partners, including Leonardo, Thales, MBDA and Sigen.
THE ROLE OF NAVIRIS (FINCANTIERI-NAVAL GROUP) IN THE HORIZON PROGRAMME
In particular, the Italian-French joint venture will be responsible for the work on the Modernization of the Combat System (integration of the anti-aircraft defense system, new electronic warfare, communication and combat management systems, anti-obsolescence and upgrade treatment, new systems optronics) and platform modernization (new ship management system, anti-obsolescence and upgrade treatment), while Eurosam will modernize the anti-air warfare chain (C2 PAAMS, new radars).
The Horizon frigates were originally built between 2000 and 2010 as part of a joint program between Fincantieri and the Naval Group, providing the Italian and French Navies with innovative frigates with anti-aircraft capabilities. In this context, the coordinated work of seven industrial partners led by Naviris will respond to the need for rationalization of unit performance, availability and maintenance.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/fincantieri-e-naval-group-ammoderneranno-le-fregate-horizon-insieme-a-mbda-e-thales/ on Wed, 28 Jun 2023 06:35:18 +0000.