Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and Spanish shipbuilding company Navantia have reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost their relationship and explore the joint benefit of a broadened collaboration in the naval and maritime domains.
As disclosed, both companies will assess future opportunities for Italian and Spanish Navies, including the development of joint projects and the participation in the development of future destroyers and other naval platforms that will be part of the future European defense force.
The official signing of the contract will take place on 3 November, in Madrid, during the International Defense and Security Exhibition (FEINDEF).
Navantia and Fincantieri have already collaborated in the European patrol corvette (EPC) program, to date “the most important naval initiative within the permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) project” , together with the French Naval Group.
“ We have long agreed that, in order to stand its ground with the global challenges of the future, we need a robust and long lasting cooperation in the defence and security field at a European level, just so our continent will be able to play an increasingly important role and this agreement goes in that direction ,” Giuseppe Bono , CEO of Fincantieri, stated.
On the other hand, Navantia’s Chairman Ricardo Domínguez has emphasized “the real opportunity of collaboration that this MoU represents, as it is the first one signed between both companies at this level and with this ambitious scope ”.
“ We aim to strengthen European Defence and boost European Defence Industry position and we think that agreements as ours pave the way towards this objective ”, he added.