Europe’s Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) has awarded Fincantieri/Naval Group joint venture Naviris and MBDA/Thales joint venture Eurosam a contract for the mid-life upgrade (MLU) of the French and Italian navies’ Horizon-class frigates.
A 31 July 2023 press release by OCCAR noted that signing ceremony for the contract had occurred at its premises in Paris on 18 July.
The upgrade contract, which is worth EUR 1.5 Bn, covers the full enhancement of the four Horizon-class ships: the French Navy’s Forbin and Chevalier Paul and the Italian Navy’s Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio.
The schedule for completion of the upgrades and the refurbished ships’ return to service is the end of 2027 for the first Italian frigate and mid-2029 for the second, and the end of 2029 for the first French frigate and the end of 2030 for the second.
Major upgrades are scheduled to be made to ships’ anti-air warfare (AAW) and electronic warfare systems. The AAW upgrade will constitute a new generation of the ships’ Principal Anti-Air Missile System & Long-Range Radar (PAAMS & LRR).
Eva Bruxmeier, managing director of Eurosam, was quoted as saying in a Thales press release, “PAAMS & LRR, [a] unique system deployed on the four French and Italian frigates, has been successfully engaged all over the world for more than 15 years in synergies with PAAMS & LRR, [such as the] UK variant deployed on the six Type 45 destroyers. This new generation of PAAMS & LRR for the frigates, developed and produced by Eurosam through MBDA Italia, MBDA France and Thales and integrated jointly with Naviris on the frigates, relies on an enhanced missile (ASTER Block 1 NT), an upgraded launcher, two new AESA [active electronically scanned-array] radars (Kronos Grand Naval from Leonardo and SMART-L MM/N from Thales) and a new open-software-architecture command and control system.”
The Horizon-class frigates were originally built between 2000 and 2010 as part of a joint programme between Fincantieri and Naval Group to provide the Italian and French navies with innovative frigates with anti-air capabilities and reduced crewing. The ships were commissioned between December 2007 and June 2009.
The frigates are designed for a range of missions, including high-intensity operations, but have AAW as they key specialisation. The ships’ chief capabilities are thus airspace control over areas of operations, air defence command and control, and anti-air cover for carrier groups and convoys.
Peter Felstead
