OCCAR

The simultaneous launching of NORMANDIE and MARCEGLIA represents another great success of the OCCAR management, demonstrating indeed the exemplary synergies among Industry and the French and Italian Navies. 

The sixth French FREMM frigate ASW (anti-submarine) NORMANDIE was floated on the 1st of February 2018 in the Naval Group Lorient site, under the supervision of OCCAR FREMM Programme Division and the French defence procurement agency (DGA). 

This launching, which has occurred just 12 months after the start of hull assembly in the building dock, is a real success to respect the strict and challenging schedule of the FREMM Programme to deliver 6 anti-submarine FREMM to the French Navy by 2019, as planned in the French Military Programming Law 2014-2019. 

The next major step will be the installation of mast infrastructure with the ship’s main sensors and the integration of the Combat Management System. In this autumn, the NORMANDIE will leave the dry dock to undergo its first sea trials foreseen in the first quarter of 2019, before delivery to the French Navy planned in mid-2019. 

In the aftermath, just 2 days after, the eighth Italian FREMM frigate, named Antonio MARCEGLIA in honour of the highly decorated Navy Lt Colonel, was launched on the 3rd of February at the FINCANTIERI integrated shipyard in Riva Trigoso (Genoa). The ship is the fourth launched in the General Purpose (GP) configuration. 

The ceremony took place in the presence of the Italian Minister of Defence Roberta Pinotti, and other military, religious and civil authorities. Among them Admiral Walter Girardelli - Italian Navy Chief of Staff and Giuseppe Bono - CEO of Fincantieri. 

The Godmother was Ms Silvia Marceglia, granddaughter of the Engineer Officer, who deserved the highest military decorations for his bold exploits during the Second World War. 

The frigate will complete the outfitting and will start Harbour and Sea Acceptance Tests in La Spezia – Muggiano shipyard. At the end of the trials, ITS Antonio MARCEGLIA will be delivered to Italian Navy in 2019. 
Six Italian warships and four French ones are now in service for the two Navies; another eight ships are under construction out of a total number of 18 foreseen by the FREMM Programme, the most ambitious naval programme in Europe. 


Thanks to the OCCAR Management, the Programme proceeds regularly with top performance thanks to a continuous technical survey action, a tailored risk management and a systematic impulse to increase the product quality. The evident results are given by the efficient deployment in theatre of both Italian and French Frigates, which have clearly demonstrated in real operations their high operational flexibility and dual use capabilities.