Having wrapped up her participation in the Australian Navy exercise Ocean Explorer on March 5, Italian Navy FREMM frigate ITS Carabiniere headed for Jakarta, Indonesia as part of her deployment to the Asia-Pacific region.
The Carlo Bergamini-class frigate arrived in Jakarta on March 9 and hosted the Italian ambassador and a number of Indonesian officials on board.
Carabiniere also held an open-day event while in port, welcoming over 3600 Indonesians on board, according to the Italian embassy in Indonesia.
Prior to arriving to Indonesia, ITS Carabiniere showcased her capabilities in the major Australian Navy exercise Ocean Explorer. Being an anti-submarine warfare version of the FREMM frigate, Carabiniere hosted Australian sailors on board during cat and mouse games with the Australian Collins-class submarine HMAS Dechaineux.
Apart from sailors, Carabiniere hosted a number of Australian government and defense officials who wanted to see what the contender for the Australian Navy’s SEA5000 Future Frigate program has to offer.
Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilder responsible for the construction of both anti-submarine warfare and general purpose variants of the Italian FREMM frigate , is one of three companies shortlisted by the Australian government for the new frigate program.
Hoping to boost its chances of securing the contract, Fincantieri, together with several other Italian defense companies, financed the “industry showcase” deployment of ITS Carabiniere to the Asia Pacific region.
Apart from Fincantieri, Australia has asked UK’s BAE Systems and Spanish Navantia to revise their designs for the Future Frigate program which will replace the Australian Navy’s Anzac-class frigates.
Exercise Ocean Explorer was also joined by Spanish Navy F100 frigate ESPS Cristóbal Colón, a Navantia-designed frigate that is set to spend three months in Australia showing off her capabilities and assisting in the training of crews of the new Hobart-class anti-air warfare destroyers (AWD). During her time in Australia, Cristóbal Colón will be home to forty RAN servicemen.