Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Fincantieri Wins Order to Build Two New Submarines for the Italian Navy

Fincantieri Wins Order to Build Two New Submarines for the Italian Navy August 5, 2008 - (News Source Info NSI): TRIESTE, Italy --- Fincantieri will build a second pair of “Todaro” class Type U212A submarines. The order was awarded by NAVARM (Italy’s directorate-general for naval armament) for the Italian Navy. The cooperation programme developed together with the German Submarine Consortium has resulted, in recent years, in the construction of two vessels for Italy – the “Todaro” and the “Scirè”, delivered by Fincantieri in 2006 and 2007 respectively – and four for Germany. In recent weeks the “Todaro”, which sailed on 24 May from Taranto naval base, is undergoing an intensive training programme with the US Navy within NATO manoeuvres and, after stopping in Mayport (Florida) in July and today in Norfolk (Virginia), will be in New York in mid-October for the “Columbus Day” celebrations. The construction of the two new submarines will start in 2010, with deliveries scheduled for 2015 and 2016. The two new buildings will replace, within the Navy’s fleet, submarines “Prini” and “Pelosi” (“Sauro” class – third batch), built in the Monfalcone shipyard at the end of the 1980s. The two submarines will have a surface displacement of 1,450 tons, an overall length of 56 meters, a maximum diameter of 7 meters, a crew of 24, and will be able to reach a submerged speed of 20 knots. The two submarines will feature highly innovative technological solutions and will be entirely built employing amagnetic materials, applying the latest silencing devices in order to reduce their acoustic signature. They will employ a silent propulsion system based on fuel cell technology, producing energy through an oxygen-hydrogen reaction independently from external oxygen, ensuring a submerged range three to four times higher than the conventional battery-based systems. They will also feature a fully integrated electro-acoustic and weapon-control system, and a modern platform automation system. Commenting the award, Fincantieri’s Managing Director Giuseppe Bono said: “We are particularly satisfied, as the prosecution of this programme guarantees to our company the maintenance of the know-how developed in a century of activity in such a highly technological sector”. “This order,” Bono concluded, “testifies the results that may be achieved through the collaboration of the Defence authorities with the national industry when the nation requires highly effective operational means to act within the complex political international scenario. Besides, it consolidates the role of Fincantieri as a major player operating in all the most important European initiatives in the naval defence sector.”

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