Italian Navy (Marina Militare) takes delivery of her 10th FREMM frigate ‘Emilio Bianchi’ in a ceremony taking place at La Spezia, Italy.
OCCAR press release
OCCAR has officially delivered the 10th Italian FREMM frigate, the “Emilio Bianchi” to the Marina Militare, the Italian Navy. The ceremony at the Muggiano shipyard (La Spezia) was attended by the OCCAR-EA Director, Mr. Joachim Sucker, the Italian Programme Committee Representative Vice Admiral Giuseppe Abbamonte, Director of the Italian Naval Directorate, the Vice Admiral Giuseppe Berutti Bergotto, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, the Admiral Flavio Biaggi, Commander of the IT Navy Northern Maritime Interregional Command and Chairman of the Q&A Committee. Industry was represented by the CEO of ORIZZONTE SISTEMI NAVALI S.p.A., Eng. Giovanni Sorrentino, and senior managers from FINCANTIERI and Leonardo.
The ITS Emilio Bianchi marks a historic milestone as it is the last “Legacy” FREMM frigate delivered to the Italian Navy, and the second unit featuring the “Anti-Submarine-Warfare-enhanced” version. With this delivery, OCCAR completes the original FREMM programme phase, under which Italy has now received all ten FREMM ships.
The completion of the FREMM Legacy phase is a testament to the commitment and excellence of the entire FREMM Franco-Italian cooperative programme community, and demonstrates the effectiveness of multinational collaboration in providing state-of-the-art defence solutions. In fact, The FREMM Programme has been recognised as one of the most successful examples of European defence cooperation, managed through OCCAR’s HORIZON-FREMM Programme Division.
The delivery of the ITS Bianchi was achieved three months ahead of schedule, and only three months after the delivery of ITS Schergat: a result of the effective collaboration between OCCAR (Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation) Italian governmental representatives and industry. Following a brief training period for the crew, the frigate will be deployed on operational maritime missions.
The Italian Navy has chosen to name this ship “Emilio Bianchi”, a name which carries great prestige. Emilio Bianchi was a member of the elite Decima Flottiglia MAS and a highly decorated petty officer. Bianchi’s actions during the Second World War were recognised with the prestigious Gold Medal of Military Valour, Italy’s highest military decoration.
To date, 18 FREMM frigates have been delivered under the programme—ten to Italy and eight to France.
Looking to the future, two additional FREMM frigates in the new “EVO-lution” configuration are scheduled to be delivered to the Italian Navy in 2029 and 2030, under the contract amendment signed in July 2024.
These units are designed to deal with new and increasingly insidious threats in the various theatres of operation where naval ships will be deployed.
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Naval News comment:
For the record, the 9th and 10th FREMM frigates ‘Spartaco Schergat’ and ‘Emilio Bianchi’ meant originally for the Italian Navy were built but never delivered to the latter as they were sold to the Egyptian Navy and renamed ‘ENS Al-Galala’ and ‘ENS Bernees’ respectively.
The last two FREMM friagtes meant for the Marina Militare will be in EVO configuration. The first one got her keel laid earlier this month to be delivered in 2029.
The FREMM EVO configuration matches the hull and propulsion of the current FREMMs with new superstructures capable to accommodate the same combat and platform systems installed on the latest generation vessels developed under the Naval Law, namely the Pattugliatori Polivalenti d’Altura (PPA) or the MultiPurpose Combat Ship (MPCS) – as it is currently designated internationally -, in the Full configuration and the LHD Trieste, in addition to new systems to deal with new missions and threats. The new FREMM EVO will accommodate, among others, the same Leonardo Kronos Dual-Band Radar (DBR) suite with the four AESA flat antennas of the C-band Kronos Quad and the same number of antennas for the X-band Kronos StarFire compared to the single rotating AESA Kronos Grand Naval radar of the current FREMMs, as we will later elaborate.
To learn more about FREMM EVO, check out our in-depth article at this link and our video coverage at Euronaval 2024:
