France and Italy have already jointly developed and built the Horizon- and FREMM-class (pictured) frigates, and under a new roadmap agreed Sept 27 could extend their cooperation to other types of warships. (Naval Group photo)
The two groups will play a key role in the steering committee that will be launched within the next few days with the objective to define by June 2018 a roadmap detailing the principles of the future alliance.
Furthermore, the agreement reached today by the two Governments on the shareholding structure of STX France foreseeing the presence of both Naval Group and Fincantieri represents a first important step and an opportunity to go forward in naval cooperation.
Naval Group CEO Hervé Guillou and Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono declared: “Our two groups have already successfully cooperated on the Horizon and FREMM frigates programs and we look forward to achieving together our European ambition while serving our international development on a growing competitive naval defence market and continuing to support the Italian and French navies.”
Naval Group is a European leader in naval defence and a major player in marine renewable energies. The Group designs, builds and supports submarines and surface ships. It also supplies services to shipyards and naval bases. The Group reports revenues of €3.2 billion and has a workforce of 12,800 employees (2016 data).
Fincantieri is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups and number one by diversification and innovation. Headquartered in Trieste (Italy), the Group has built more than 7,000 vessels in over 230 years of maritime history. With more than 19,400 employees, of whom more than 8,200 in Italy, 20 shipyards in 4 continents, today Fincantieri is the leading Western shipbuilder.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The deal announced Sept 27 will give Italy’s Fincantieri majority control of the French STX shipyard, under a complex arrangement intended to preserve French sensibilities.
More significantly, although it allows the two shipbuilding groups to envision the possibility of future cooperation on naval programs, it falls well short of creating the European naval shipbuilding powerhouse that France was demanding as the price of its approval of Fincantieri’s purchase of the STX yards.)
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