Italy could sell its last two FREMMs to Egypt

For the past few days, rumors have been running in the Italian press, following the revelations from Start Magazine, that Fincantieri and the Italian state are negotiating with Egypt for the sale of two FREMMs of the Bergamini class, taken from the last two buildings planned for the Marina militare.

Such a sale would allow Egypt to complete its surface fleet, which already has a FREMM acquired in France in 2015.  Such a sale, if the financing agreements were to be found, would then be added to a long list of transactions made between Egypt and European shipbuilders since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Besides the FREMM ex -Normandia, locally designated Tahya Misr, the Egyptian Navy has acquired four Gowind corvettes, also designed by the French Naval Group and partly built locally, as well as two Mistral-type helicopter carriers initially built in France for the account of Russia.

While an option for two more Gowinds was being discussed, Cairo finally decided last year to purchase six Meko 200 light frigates from the German TKMS, which also built the four Type 209 submarines ordered by Egypt between 2011 and 2014.

Turning to Fincantieri for two new FREMMs, Egypt would then have a third supplier of major naval armaments in Europe, while Italy would make a major breakthrough in the Egyptian naval market, which is currently secured by French, German and American manufacturers.

Like the FREMM sold in 2015 by France, the two ships offered by Italy are not vessels put on hold specifically for Cairo, but indeed ships originally planned for the Italian Navy. In this case, it would be the F598 Spartaco Schergat and the F599 Emilio Bianchi, respectively ninth and tenth Italian FREMM, and the last to be produced in the shipyards of Genoa.

The Emilio Branchi launching ceremony also took place at the end of January, while the Spartaco Schergat finalizes its tests at sea.  Such an approach would be a novelty for the Italian naval industry, which until now tended to propose the construction of new ships in order to maintain and increase the activity of its shipyards, strongly supported politically.

The resale of two Italian FREMMs would however be in Rome’s little papers for at least a year, the hypothesis having been mentioned in Brazil and could have been an option for the Italian offer in Saudi Arabia.

The reduction in the format of the Italian FREMM fleet from 10 to 8 units which would result from such a sale would thus indicate certain logic of industrial and operational rationalization, which would be reminiscent of some of the choices made by the French Navy, which also reduced orders for FREMM to just eight ships. Indeed, the last two FREMMs of the Bergamini class, whose entry into service was expected for March 2020 and April 2021, are of the FREMM-GP (General Employment) type, and not FREMM-ASW (Anti-Submarine ).

Optimized for action towards the land and maritime control, these frigates offer significant capacities but which today seem redundant with the other major programs of the Marina militare. The latter plans to acquire seven PPAs (Patrouilleurs Polyvalents Hauturiers), which despite their name are true frigates optimized precisely for the same missions as the FREMM-GP, and should soon modernize its fleet of assault helicopter carriers when the Trieste enters service.

By separating from two FREMM-GPs, Italy is thus freeing up funds to continue its new programs without reducing FREMM’s orders, and therefore the workload of its shipyards.

The current negotiations would focus mainly on the issue of funding, and could spread over a period of several months. Experience has shown us that this type of transaction can be long and tedious, and sometimes lead to outright failure.

The calendar for the reception of the last two Italian FREMMs will however undoubtedly push Rome to a rapid conclusion of the file.  FREMM-GP proposed in Egypt the FREMM-GP offered to Egypt is 144m long vessels for 6900 tonnes.

On the technical level, the Italian FREMM-GP differ from the French FREMM mainly by their armament and their suite of sensors. Their artillery consists of a 127mm cannon and a 76mm cannon, against a single 76mm in France.

Since French FREMMs are exported without their cruise missiles, the main missile is therefore relatively similar, with 16 Aster 15 or Aster 30 missiles with vertical launch and nearly 8 anti-ship missiles with secondary strike capacity.

Basically, these are Italian OTOMAT missiles, although nothing prohibits the installation of Exocet if Egypt wishes to facilitate its logistics between the Tahya Misr, its Gowinds and its new FREMM-GP.

The Kronos radar is installed higher than the Herakles of the French FREMMs, making it possible in theory to provide more distant low altitude coverage, but reducing the general stealth of the ship.

MU90 torpedoes offer ASM self-defense, while Italian design allows two helicopters to be boarded instead of just one, the Egyptian Navy having SH-2G Super Seasprite for surface and ASM fight. However, the FREMM-GP do not have the excellent hardened sonar CAPTAS-4 present on the ASM versions of the FREMM but only the sonar of hull UMS 4110. Instead, the ships will be able to use RHIB for the benefit commando or maritime control operations.