Greece chooses Naval Group frigates (with Mbda missiles), battles Fincantieri and Lockheed Martin
Greece will purchase three Naval Group frigates. The French company beat the competition from the American Lockheed Martin and the Italian Fincantieri. Numbers and insights
Athens has chosen the French frigates of Naval Group.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis today signed a military contract for Athens to order three FDI frigates (plus one optional) as part of strengthening the strategic "partnership" between France and Greece.
The announcement comes after the cancellation of a 55 billion euro contract by Australia, which preferred a strategic partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom.
After the debacle of the Australian submarines, the export activity for Naval Group resumes. In Athens, France will sell 3 “Belharra” frigates, 4,600-ton boats over 120 meters in length, equipped with state-of-the-art radars designed by Thales.
Athens is also in talks with Paris for the purchase of three Gowind corvettes: if this negotiation also materializes, the total order would rise to 5 billion.
Athens had launched in 2020 a tender for four frigates and the renewal of its Hydra frigates. The French Naval Group therefore beat the competition: the American Lockheed Martin and the Europeans Damen and Fincantieri.
All the details.
THE MEMORANDUM BETWEEN GREECE, NAVAL GROUP AND MBDA
Pending the acquisition of three Gowind corvettes, Athens has signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of three Fdi frigates from Naval Group for approximately 3 billion euros. They will be armed with Aster 30 and Exocet MM40 Block 3c missiles made by Mbda.
“France and Greece are giving themselves three months to sign a definitive contract for these three Fdi frigates, identical to those of France. This reduces the bill for Athens, which has not asked for specific developments, ” La Tribune points out.
The FDI Hn frigates will be built in the shipyard of Lorient Naval Group, which has just entered the second production of the series for the French Navy, he is to know the shipbuilding group.
Greece will become the second customer of this multi-mission frigate, bringing the number of units produced from five for the French Navy to eight in total, plus one as an option.
WHAT ABOUT THE GODWIND CORVETTES?
The three Gowind corvettes (plus an optional one) between Greece and Naval Group are still to be dealt with. This component, which was still in the agreement on Monday evening, was unable to materialize on Tuesday morning. The reason: "Greece wants to build these corvettes from Greek shipyards, which requires a little more work to finalize this operation," according to the Tribune .
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF MACRON
Greece's acquisition of Rafale fighter jets and now three Belharra frigates to be built in France, in Lorient, is "a testimony of confidence and demonstration of the quality of the French offer," Emmanuel Macron told the Elysée after the signature.
In mid-September, Kyriakos Mitsotakis had already announced the surprise purchase of six Rafale fighters, as well as a previous € 2.5 billion contract signed in January.
The agreement signed on Tuesday "helps protect the security, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of our two states, while promoting security, stability and prosperity in regions of common interest", Emmanuel Macron assured. . "It is in perfect coherence and in full compliance with our commitments to the EU and NATO, strengthening its effectiveness for the protection of our territories and allowing us to act in a more effective and coordinated way together for peace and security in the Mediterranean , Middle East, Africa and the Balkans ”, reiterated the French president.
GONGOLA THE FRENCH PRESS
“The Naval Group's offer has finally won over the Greek government, which wants to renew its fleet of frigates,” wrote Usine Nuovelle today . “Greece consoles France from the Australian fiasco” headlines Les Echos .
NOTHING TO DO FOR FINCANTIERI
Nothing to do in Greece for Fincantieri's Fremm frigates. The news is partly negative for the group led by Giuseppe Bono.
However, Mediobanca Secutiries pointed out today, ”Fincantieri benefits from a solid order book in Naval which provides strong visibility on revenues in the medium term. In the short term, commodity cost inflation, particularly in the case of steel, remains a key uncertainty that could partially dent the group's expected increase in profitability for 2022, ″ warned the investment bank as reported by MF .
On the Fincantieri stock, down by 1.21% to 0.73 euros at the moment, Mediobanca has a neutral rating and a target price of 0.78 euros.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/la-grecia-sceglie-le-fregate-di-naval-group-con-missili-mbda-battute-fincantieri-e-lockheed-martin/ on Tue, 28 Sep 2021 14:12:24 +0000.