As part of the government and industrial cooperation program between Italy and Germany relating to the U-212A class of submarines, Fincantieri has signed a contract for assistance upon request with the Naval Armaments Directorate of the General Secretariat of Defense and the National Armaments Directorate of vessels of the German Navy.
The contract will have a five-year term and will replicate the on-demand assistance model that Fincantieri operates on the vessels of the Italian Navy, i.e. intervening on call to ensure the highest performance of the units.
Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Fincantieri, commented: “This contract represents considerable international recognition of the solid level of technology and reputation we have achieved. It is a source of great satisfaction that the Navy of the country with the greatest experience and shipbuilding capacity in the world in conventional submarines has turned to Fincantieri to benefit from the same effectiveness of intervention that we offer to the fleet of our Navy. This result contributes to further strengthening the role of the Fincantieri Group as a strategic hub in the Mediterranean for Defense in the diving industry”.
The U-212A Program was born out of an agreement between the Ministries of Defense of Italy and Germany in 1996 and derives from the need of the Italian Navy to have a new class of submarines meeting modern operational requirements by 2006. The path of international cooperation was undertaken due to the extensive consonance between the needs of the armed forces of the two countries both for the operational requirements and for the implementation times.
The U-212A fleet of the Italian Navy has four units, the German one has six.
Fincantieri announced a few days ago that the construction of the third new generation submarine related to the U-212NFS (Near Future Submarine) program of the Navy, evolution of the U-212A program, assigned to Fincantieri, has received parliamentary approval and will continue now the usual administrative procedure.
