Naviris press release
The clear objective of the consortium’s proposal is to maximize synergies and collaboration among European shipbuilding industrials. By developing together a new ship, the EPC, they aim to ensure European sovereignty in the second-rank warship.
The EPC will be a smart, innovative, affordable, sustainable, interoperable, and flexible vessel designed to meet a wide range of future missions in a continuously evolving global context. Based on innovative and disruptive technologies, this program will strongly contribute to European sovereignty in the naval domain, by strengthening the European industry, increasing cooperation, efficiency and lowering duplication in defense spending.
The main objective of the agreement signed today will be to develop the initial design of the vessel, maximizing innovations, synergies, and collaboration among the European shipbuilding industry through the participation of:
- 4 countries under the banner of the PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation) project (Italy, France, Spain, and Greece)
- 6 countries involved in the co-funding (Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Denmark, and Norway)
- 3 main European Shipbuilding Industries (Fincantieri, Naval Group, and Navantia)
- 40 companies for maritime systems and equipment from 12 EU countries
The EPC is a future innovative program of naval vessels which is developed in a collaborative way by several navies and members of the European Union, under the banner of the PESCO* project (PESCO approval in 2019). Four navies have officially joined the project (Italy, France, Spain, and Greece) to define jointly the requirements for a 2nd rank surface combatant of about 110 meters long and 3000 tons able to replace in the near future several series of ships, from Patrol Vessels to light Frigates. Additionally, Norway and Denmark are supporting the project through the participation of their national industry.
The EPC project is strongly supported by European Commission and the participating Member States. The European Defence Fund opened a call named MMPC – Modular and Multirole Patrol Corvette – for which Naviris coordinated the elaboration of a proposal by pooling together the expertise of a European consortium which was submitted in December 2021. This proposal has been selected in July 2022 with a grant for a two-year initial phase of the design of the MMPC, the development of technological bricks, and the definition of common working methodologies, rules, and standards.
With its ambition of excellence, the program intends to grow with the expertise of various specialized European companies, in line with the European Commission’s strategy.