Italy awards contract for ninth and tenth Fremm frigates

The Italian defense ministry has exercised options for the Italian Navy's ninth and tenth Fremm frigates with Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, the company announced on 16 April.

Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, a Fincantieri-Finmeccanica joint venture, is the prime contractor for Italy in the Italian-French Fremm multi-mission European frigates programme. With the awarding of the $825.21 million contract option, Italy has completed its order of ten vessels for the navy under the programme.

The new Fremm frigates will be delivered after 2020 and will replace the Lupo and Maestrale class frigates that were built by Fincantieri in the 1970s. They have a length of 144m, beam of 19.7m, displacement of approximately 6,700 tonnes, crew capacity of 200 and a maximum speed of 27 knots.

Mauro Moretti, general manager and CEO, Finmeccanica, said: 'The Italian and French programme for the new Fremm (multi-purpose) European multi mission frigates is the most important European military naval programme ever implemented. The vessel-based systems produced by Finmeccanica are capable of managing a range of continuously developing operational scenarios with cutting edge technology.'