Operational ‘projection’ campaign in the Indo-Pacific for Italian Navy’ PPA 'Montecuccoli' which is the first PPA with AAW capabilities.
The Montecuccoli has passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 1st May, “to cross the Atlantic Ocean and reach the Ocean Pacific through the Panama Channel, where the ship will participate to an intensive training and operational activity with allied and partner navies”, said the press statement.
The Thaon di Revel class PPA will call in total 13 ports in 11 different nations round the globe, conducting naval diplomacy and national industry support activities, alongside the participation to the multinational Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024 and PACIFIC DRAGON 2024 exercises planned for this summer. The Italian ship will continue its campaign westbound through the Indian and the Mediterranean Sea.
Although no details were released on the destinations to be visited by the Montecuccoli, Naval News understood it will call among others in the US (Miami, San Diego and Honolulu), Portugal, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Malesia. Moreover, the Montecuccoli is also expected to join the IT CSG (Carrier Strike Group) based on the Cavour STOVL aircraft carrier in her Indo-Pacific region campaign in the second half of the year depending on schedule, although again no details were released by Italian Navy on the joining timeframe.
The ship and its crew, belonging to the 1st Naval Division, will make an historical campaign being the first Italian Navy ship to participate to two major international exercises in the Pacific region: the 29th iteration of RIMPAC, the world’s premier international maritime exercise, with the Montecuccoli participation from late June to August beginning. RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans.
The other being the PACIFIC DRAGON, a recurring biennial multinational air and missile defense exercise in the Hawaiian Island Operating Area including the Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands (PMRF) and off the coast of Kauai. This exercise is designed to improve tactical and technical coordination and interoperability concerning regional air and missile defense capability. The PD 22 was the first of exercise Pacific Dragon that included a live fire intercept of a short range ballistic missile using a Standard Missile (SM-3) Block 1A.
Delivered to the Italian Navy on 27 September 2023 by Fincantieri as prime contractor under the OCCAR managed programme, the Raimondo Montecuccoli is the third PPA and the first one in “Light Plus” configuration. The latter provides a new generation air defence system with a four fixed-face (4FF) C-band AESA radar, enhanced electronic warfare and command and control capabilities to cope with present and future air and surface threats, as the same platform maintains all the anti-surface and anti-air warfare capabilities offered by the gun armament suite installed on the two PPA Light configured vessels already in service with Italian Navy.
The PPA Light Plus main distinctive capabilities the new Leonardo 4FF C-band AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) Kronos Quad radar of the Dual Band Radar (DBR) (X/C band) suite installed on the PPA Full platform, the MBDA Italia SAAM ESD (Surface Anti-Air Missile – Extended Self Defence) PPA air defence missile system with two 8-cell A50 Naval Group vertical launching system (VLS) for the family of MBDA’s Aster surface-to-air missiles, the complete Electronic Warfare Suite (EWS) from Elettronica including RESM, CESM and RECM (the latter not present on the PPA Light) and additional operator consoles for the Leonardo SADOC Mk 4 Combat Management System (CMS) compared to the PPA Light configuration. The whole combat system but in particular the integrated air and missile defence (IAMD) capabilities of the ship, centred on the new Leonardo 4FF C-band AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) Kronos Quad radar, the SAAM ESD C2 air defence missile system and the EW suite, all managed through the Leonardo SADOC 4 CMS, are expected to be subjected to intensive testing and evaluation during the PACIFIC DRAGON 2024 exercise.
