Fincantieri, Naval Group, Navantia place offer to jointly develop European patrol corvette

A consortium led by major defense contractors Fincantieri, Naval Group and Navantia submitted an industrial proposal related to the Modular Multirole Patrol Corvette (MMPC) call of the European Defence Fund (EDF) on 9 December.

As informed, the objective of the proposal is to maximize synergies and collaboration among European shipbuilding industrials. By developing together a new ship, the European patrol corvette (EPC), they aim to ensure European sovereignty in the second rank warship. The strategic program already exists, which is “the most important naval initiative within the Permanent Structure Cooperation (PESCO)”.

This has been made possible thanks to the participation of:

• 4 countries in EPC PESCO project (Italy, France, Spain and Greece);
• 6 countries involved in the co-founding (Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Denmark and
  Norway);
• 3 European Shipbuilding Industrials (Fincantieri, Naval Group and Navantia) with Naviris
  in charge of the coordination;
• 40 companies for maritime systems and equipment.

Based on a unified frame of standards and using joint engineering capabilities, the EPC is planned to be developed from the conceptual studies up to the initial design.

“The produced design will constitute a break-through from current warships, as it will be modular, flexible, as well as more energy-efficient, greener, safer, more interoperable, and cyber-secure,” according to the companies.

According to Naviris, a joint venture between Fincantieri and Naval Group, and Navantia, the EPC will be “a smart, innovative, affordable, sustainable, interoperable and flexible vessel” to meet the future missions in the evolved world context of mid-21st century.

Specifically, EPC will be a fully ready surface combatant to carry-out diversified missions, primarily aimed at enhancing maritime situational awareness, surface superiority and power projection, particularly in the context of governmental peacetime actions, such as those aimed at counteracting piracy and smuggling, as well as those actions dedicated to humanitarian assistance, migration control and aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation.

The ship will have a length of about 100 meters and a displacement of 3,000 tons, able to replace in the near future (from 2027 onward) several classes of ships, from patrol vessels to light frigates.

MMPC will finally be characterized to address specific national requirements, keeping the defined design as the common reference. This proposal constitutes the first essential step towards preparing the future production of the vessel in the scope of a second call under EDF in the multi-annual perspective.

Over the last years, and more specifically during 2021, there have been growing calls for Europeans to take responsibility for their own security both within NATO and as part of the European common security and defence policy. Several European Union member states have repeatedly underlined the need to develop common military capabilities to face common challenges.

In this respect, Fincantieri, Naval Group and Navantia acknowledge that there is a need for collaboration in the European Union naval defence sector to support Europe in dealing with these challenges and the ones to come.

In February this year, the firms signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at enlarging the industrial cooperation for the European patrol corvette program.