Fincantieri Hydro-Oceanographic Naval Unit (NIOM): Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has signed a contract with the General Secretariat of Defense and National Arms Direction – Naval Armaments Direction (NAVARM), for realization of a new Hydro-Oceanographic Naval Unit Major (NIOM) intended for the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy, with delivery scheduled in 2026 at the integrated yard of Riva Trigoso-Muggiano.
The contract has been signed within the framework of a Community call for the Defense and Security sector, said the company.
The contract has a total value of approximately 280 million Euros, including integrated logistics support services and temporary support for the duration of six years plus four as option.
Trieste based shipbuilder said the contract thus begins the renewal of the naval units of the hydrographic service of the Navy.
This programme is part of an innovative, European project involving the Ministry of Defense and in which a financing agreement has been reached between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
Italy Navy’s Cavour aircraft carrier built by Fincantieri.
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Pierroberto Folgiero, Managing Director of Fincantieri, said the company was proud as its technological record is once again established in an area such as scientific one, which requires peculiar specialist skills.
“The unit, in fact, must be able to operate ensuring high performance in every marine weather condition. This will require the integration of many complex systems, distinctive capabilities of a Group like ours, which not only realizes state-of-the-art platforms such as military ships but can count on the synergy between naval world and offshore world in the development of advanced control systems,” Pierroberto Folgiero said in a statement sent to Defence Star.
According to Fincantieri, the ship has been conceived with the utmost attention to green aspects. Its main characteristics include emissions containment technologies, a diesel-electric propulsion to optimize consumption, forms of hull functional to reducing progress resistance and the use of environment-friendly materials.
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“In the field of sustainability, the production process also participates in the constant commitment of the company in the supervision of environmental management systems, testified by compliance with the international standard ISO 14001 of the integrated construction site of Riva Trigoso-Muggiano, as well as from all other Italian sites of the Group,” it said.
Further key driver of the ship will be the theme of Health & Safety, aimed at the safety of all the staff who will exercise the ship during the operational life.
The company said it maintains a proactive approach aimed at identifying, even in cooperation with a leading supplier fleet, the best technical solutions to fully meet the operational requirements of the customer.
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Fincantieri delivered in 2018 to the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), the oceanographic and fish research body of the Norwegian government, “Kronprins Haakon”, oceanographic icebreaker ship destined to operate in polar waters.
In 2021 the Group curated an exceptional refitting on the unit “Laura Bassi”, the only oceanographic icebreaker ship for Italian research, owned by the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics.
The Hydrographic Institute of the Navy is the Cartographic Body of the State designated for the production of official national nautical documentation.
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