The eighth edition of the Seafuture exhibition and convention took place from 5 to 8 June 2023 at Italy’s La Spezia Naval Base, bringing together the naval, defence and maritime industries, technological innovation, and the blue economy.
The opening ceremony on 5 June was attended by Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, Chief of Italian Defence Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Italian Navy Chief Admiral Enrico Credendino, the head of the Italian Ministry of Defence’s General Secretariat/National Armaments Directorate, General Luciano Portolano, as well as representatives from regional and local civilian authorities.
Organised by Italian company Blue Growth, headed by Cristiana Pagni, with the co-operation of the Italian Navy, Seafuture 2023 saw record numbers both exhibiting and attending; around 300 exhibiting entities included larger companies, small and medium enterprises, start-ups, national and international organisations, and armed and police forces. Around 80 companies came from 11 European countries, Canada and United States, presenting themselves and their products and services across a covered area of 35,000 m2.
The 71 foreign navies and defence procurement delegations welcomed at the show had the opportunity to visit the stands, as well as numerous surface vessels and underwater platforms from the Italian Navy, national and foreign shipbuilders and defence companies.
The Italian Navy itself presented the multipurpose offshore patrol vessel (Pattugliatore Polivalente d’Altura) Thaon di Revel, the anti-surface-configured FREMM frigate Marceglia, and the Type 212A air-independent propulsion (AIP)-powered submarine Romeo Romei, all of which were built by Italy’s Fincantieri and a national supply chain of small and medium enterprises and equipped with combat and weapon systems from Leonardo, MBDA and Elettronica, among others.
Also displayed was the Italian Navy’s 44 m Tedeschi high-speed multipurpose vessel for special forces, two Lerici/Gaeta-class mine countermeasures vessels from Intermarine shipyard and Cantiere Navale Vittoria’s patrol vessel Monte Cimone, which is in service with the Guardia di Finanza (the law enforcement agency under Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance). Among the smaller platforms displayed, Baglietto Navy showed for the first time its new 15 m Combat Boat 15; Effebi displayed its 8 m hybrid patrol craft, which is also in service with the Guardia di Finanza; while rigid-hull inflatable boats on display included the MST Group FRISC 1200-SF special forces boat and Zodiac Milpro range.
Under its ‘Explore the Unexplored’ theme, Seafuture 2023 was much focused on the underwater domain and the challenges that navies, industry, international organisations and maritime operators have to confront to protect and preserve it, without forgetting the blue economy and the relationships among the countries around the Mediterranean.
On the second day of the event, on the other side of La Spezia bay at Fincantieri’s Muggiano shipyard, the shipbuilder, together with the Italian Navy and OCCAR as the programme managing agency, celebrated the steel cutting of the second of the new AIP-equipped submarine being procured under the Italian navy’s Type 212 NFS (Near Future Submarine) programme. During a presentation of the boat at Seafuture, an OCCAR representative highlighted the Fincantieri design authority and strong content in terms of platform and combat systems being developed and provided by Italian industry, research centres and universities. These systems range from the Li-Ion batteries currently under development and certification by a team including FIB-FAAM (Seri Industrial group), the Power4Future joint venture between Fincantieri SI and Faist Electronics, Cetena and TÜV Rheinland, to the integrated platform and command management systems, sensors and weapons also equipping the vessel.
Intermarine, meanwhile, presented the latest developments in its new-generation mine countermeasures vessel (MCMV) programme for the Italian Navy, which involves platforms designed to operate in minefields with the support of embarked unmanned systems, while Mariotti shipyard showed its capabilities in producing special forces, diving support, and submarine rescue system (SDO-SuRS) vessels.
The unmanned domain and related technologies were another key area of focus for Seafuture 23, with the world debut of the Leonardo AWHero rotary-wing uncrewed aerial system (RUAS) in a new configuration for certification and series production. This 200 kg-class RUAS features a completely new composite airframe and undercarriage, a heavy fuel powerplant based on a unique twin-engine solution, as well as a new payload bay and advanced sensors, building upon the system’s proven core avionics, datalink architecture and control station.
Fincantieri, meanwhile, presented the latest programme developments with its SAND unmanned surface vessel (USV) demonstrator. This platform has been involved in sea trails to demonstrate launch and recovery capabilities involving the autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) from the Italian company and exhibitor Graal Tech. The Fincantieri USV, together with other Italian companies, will take part in the NATO ‘REPMUS 2023’ exercise this year to demonstrate its control and communications capabilities as a key network node between underwater systems and ashore or at-sea command-and-control stations.
Among the new national players in the underwater military and homeland security domain, Saipem group presented its activities with the under-development Hydrone AUV family (defence- and security-focused systems derived from oil and gas sector solutions), Graal Tech showed its X300 MCM Compact 300 m-capable lightweight AUV for MCM missions, while MDM Team showed a low-cost, micro-AUV named Stok.
L3Harris Calzoni, meanwhile, unveiled its new lightweight and compact Hunterwater unmanned suite for full-cycle mine hunting, while Leonardo unveiled its Athena MK2/U combat management system, which is under development initially for the Type 212 NFS submarine programme. Leonardo also displayed its ATAS towed sonar, Black Scorpion mini-torpedo and MJTE decoy.
Elettronica displayed its integrated electronic warfare suite and dedicated radar and communications electronic support measures (RESM/CESM) antenna for the NFS programme, while Germany’s Hensoldt group showcased its family of penetrating and non-penetrating submarine masts, the French Exail group displayed its family of solutions for MCM and underwater surveillance, RTSYS displayed its AUVs and Sema training targets, and Thales showed its family of Captas variable-depth and MCM sonars and command-and-control system.
Lastly in a piece of news from the exhibition, Thales announced the future opening in La Spezia of an integrated service centre dedicated to the maintenance of its sonars in service with the Italian Navy.
