Fincantieri-Naval Group joint venture inks 1st R&T contract with OCCAR

Naviris, a 50/50 owned joint venture between Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and French defense contractor Naval Group, has signed its first contract regarding research and technology (R&T) with OCCAR, the European Joint Armaments Cooperation organisation.

As informed, Naviris, as prime contractor, will coordinate technical activities managed by Fincantieri and Naval Group and will own the intellectual property of all the research findings.

The R&T program is said to be a cornerstone of long-term cooperation between Fincantieri and Naval Group.

“We are delighted that OCCAR has relied on us to participate to the Franco-Italian R&T program. This contract is the first step of more-to-come European projects, regarding not only joint research activities but also the upgrade of design and production process for the vessels destined to France, Italy and their export,” Claude Centofanti, CEO of Naviris, commented.

“We are enthusiastic to launch the activities of such a promising collaboration: the joint-venture Naviris will increasingly contribute to foster innovation and European leadership”.

“I am very proud of the kick off of Naviris activities. Thanks to France, Italy and OCCAR, our joint-venture is able to launch a very ambitious R&T program for the coming three and a half years,” Pierre-Eric Pommellet, CEO of Naval Group, said.

“The … skills and experience of Fincantieri and Naval Group will contribute to the long term technological advantage of our vessels. This dynamic will sustain the economic recovery of both our countries, Italy and France, in the aftermath of Covid-19 and will contribute to increase our Navies superiority. This R&T program is the first of many more to come. In addition to research projects, Naviris’ activities will soon encompass additional initiatives such as the mid-life upgrade of the Horizon frigates.”

“Today we welcome the beginning of one of the most important projects we have worked on in recent years. We have long believed that the consolidation of the European naval industry represents one of the fundamental means, if not the main in terms of critical mass and synergies, to allow our continent not to be left on the sidelines and instead to play a pivotal role in the upcoming challenges worldwide,” Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, pointed out.

“On these grounds, we are grateful to the governments of our two countries for sharing the common vision and supporting the alliance between Naval Group and Fincantieri, which will mark the future of our sector,” he added.

This R&T program of Naviris encompasses five different projects all aiming at enhancing the performance of Fincantieri’s and Naval Group’s vessels.

1. Digital ship. This project will develop warship simulation capabilities throughout the whole ship’s lifecycle in order to improve product performances assessment, while reducing the need of real testing, and optimize the use of computer aided engineering to enhance both design definition (hydrodynamics, aerodynamics) and ship daily on-board operations (through the integrated approach of the Digital Twin Concept);
2. Energy consumption optimization. This project will identify new architectures and equipment useful to improve the global efficiency of the electrical network and monitoring electrical consumption on board surface vessels;
3. Fuel cells for surface vessels. This project will develop a modular fuel cell system (FCS) suitable for marine applications, capable of being fully integrated on board naval surface vessels;
4. Logistics of the future. This project will boost shipbuilding competitiveness by developing solutions able to increase production efficiency and effectiveness and to reduce costs during the entire product life cycle, providing new tools for inspection and maintenance purposes as well as on board management of components in a naval vessels working environment;
5. Winning a sea state. This project aims at developing methods, tools and engineering solutions to allow naval surface vessels to safely carry out daily operations (like launch and recovery of units) in worse environmental conditions than currently met.

Three sites of Naval Group will be involved in the projects – Nantes-Indret, Ollioules and Lorient, as well as its subsidiary Sirenha – while, for Fincantieri, the sites of Genova and Trieste will work on the project, along with the subsidiaries Cetena and Seastema.