OCCAR: Major milestone achieved in Horizon warship modernization program

The Horizon Mid-Life-Upgrade (MLU) Program, a collaborative initiative involving France and Italy, has successfully completed its critical design review (CDR), the Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) revealed.

As informed, this significant achievement focuses on the four frigates of the Horizon class: France’s Forbin and Chevalier Paul, alongside Italy’s Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio. The primary objectives of this modernization are to replace outdated systems and integrate modern technologies.

A central focus of the joint activities is the development, production, and onboard integration of enhanced anti-air warfare (AAW) and electronic warfare systems (EWS). These upgrades will provide the ships with improved and entirely new capabilities to effectively counter the latest high-performance threats, according to OCCAR.

Following the successful system design review (SDR) on October 3, 2024, the completion of the CDR on April 4, 2025, marks a crucial transition. This milestone confirms that the design phase is complete and the program is now moving into the development and manufacturing stages. Both France and Italy, working in close cooperation with OCCAR expressed their satisfaction with the outcome, highlighting the identification of innovative technological solutions to address contemporary threats.

The plan for integrating these new systems onto the warships will begin around mid-2026 for the lead Italian vessel, with the second Italian ship following towards the end of 2027. For the French Navy, integration activities are scheduled to commence in mid-2028 for their first ship and in the latter half of 2029 for the second. The entire upgrade process is anticipated to be finalized by the end of 2030.

The comprehensive modernization effort is being executed under a single contract awarded to the joint contractors Naviris and Eurosam.

Naviris is a 50/50 owned joint venture by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and French Naval Group and Eurosam is a consortium formed by MBDA and Thales. 

Furthermore, advancements made under a separate science and experimentation (S&E) contract between OCCAR (specifically the FSAF-PAAMS Program Division) and EUROSAM are also contributing valuable elements to the Horizon MLU contract.

This successful CDR underscores the commitment of France and Italy to maintaining the advanced capabilities of their Horizon-class frigates. The enhanced AAW and EWS capabilities will be vital in ensuring their continued effectiveness in a complex and evolving security environment, it was concluded.