Shipbuilding companies Naval Group, Navantia, Naviris and Fincantieri have signed a preliminary consortium agreement for the European modular and multirole patrol corvette (MMPC).
The 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 the European position in the naval shipbuilding sector.
“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,” according to the partners.
“Based on innovative and disruptive technologies, this program will strongly contribute to the European sovereignty in the naval domain, by strengthening the European industry, increasing cooperation, efficiency and lowering duplication in defense spending.”
In July 2022, the European Commission selected the proposal submitted by the consortium led by Naviris together with Fincantieri, Naval Group and Navantia for the MMPC call. The firms submitted an industrial proposal for the EPC in December last year.
EPC will be a fully ready surface combatant to carry-out diversified missions, primarily aimed at enhancing maritime situational awareness, surface superiority and power projection, particularly in the context of governmental peacetime actions, such as those aimed at counteracting piracy and smuggling, as well as those actions dedicated to humanitarian assistance, migration control and aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation.
The ship will have a length of about 100 meters and a displacement of 3,000 tons, able to replace in the near future (from 2027 onward) several classes of ships, from patrol vessels to light frigates.
MMPC will finally be characterized to address specific national requirements, keeping the defined design as the common reference. This proposal constitutes the first essential step towards preparing the future production of the vessel in the scope of a second call under EDF in the multi-annual perspective.