The launching ceremony of the Italian tenth FREMM frigate, named the “Emilio Bianchi” has successfully taken place at the FINCANTIERI shipyard in Riva Trigoso. The ceremony hosted by Fincantieri’s Chairman Claudio Graziano and CEO and Managing Director Pierroberto Folgiero, was attended by the OCCAR-EA Director Mr. Joachim Sucker and the Chief of the Italian Navy Admiral Enrico Credendino. The event represents another significant milestone for the OCCAR FREMM Programme within the framework of a joint Italian-French cooperation programme managed by OCCAR. Under the supervision of the OCCAR-EA FREMM SMs (now within Horizon PD) and the Italian Naval Directorate (NAVARM), the FREMM Programme is a fast moving one, as the ninth and tenth frigates are planned to be delivered to the Italian Navy in 2025.
The tenth FREMM frigate was named after Emilio Bianchi who was an Italian military frogman, who was awarded the military gallantry medal in World War II. Godmother of the ceremony was Mrs. Elisabetta Bianchi, Emilio Bianchi’s daughter. The ship has been launched with its combat system and platform equipment already installed on board and integrated. Shortly she will be moved to the Fincantieri‘s shipyard in Muggiano (La Spezia) and in the last quarter of 2024 the First Sea Going will take place. The ship will be delivered to Italian Navy in third quarter of 2025 following completion of the outfitting activities.
The launching of the Emilio Bianchi, a ASW enhanced version of the FREMM frigate, was performed in advance, all within the scheduled timelines and therefore represents another great success of the OCCAR management method, showcasing its ability to face technical, design and construction challenges with the continuous close cooperation and involvement of the French and Italian Naval Directorates. To date, OCCAR-EA has delivered all the eight (8) FREMM ships to the French Navy and eight (8) of the total of ten (10) FREMM ships ordered to date via OCCAR to the Italian Navy. OCCAR-EA also manages the all of the Warship ISS for the entire Italian FREMM fleet.
The FREMM (French: Frégate Européenne Multi-Mission; Italian: Fregata Europea Multi-Missione), which stands for “European multi-purpose frigate”, is a Franco-Italian family of multi-purpose frigates designed by Naval Group and Fincantieri. In France, this surface combatant is known as the “Aquitaine class” (17 units planned, of which 9 were later cancelled), while in Italy it is known as the “Bergamini class” (10 units planned). The lead ship of the class, Aquitaine, was commissioned in November 2012 by the French Navy. Italy has ordered six general purpose and four anti-submarine variants. France, on the other hand, has ordered six anti-submarine variants and two air-defense ones.
