Augsburg/Germany – 27-28 May 2025, RENK, a
world’s leading manufacturer of mission critical products for security and
defence in the naval and land domain, with a history of more than 150 years in
the business, hosted Naval Expert Symposium 2025. Senior representatives from
Navies, Defence Industries, Academia and Government Institutions gather to and consult on and discuss about current threats and explore the
strategic significance of maritime power, as well as identify key technological
innovations required for the future.
During the symposium, the speakers emphasised
the growing importance of maritime infrastructure and naval capabilities, which
has been the focus of European public and political attention. Recent
international developments are changing geostrategic priorities with an
increase in the maritime influence of major powers and consequently the need
for Europe to develop comprehensive naval capabilities and enhance maritime
security.
Across panels and presentations, OCCAR delegate,
MMPC Programme Manager, Mr. Andrea Millerani Trapani, presented the OCCAR-EA
organisation and business model as a concrete solution for EU countries to find
stronger cooperation and common defence capabilities through cost-efficient and
timely-delivery programmes.
As a concrete example of naval programmes,
MMPC was presented as a demonstration of an important step to increase
strategic autonomy in the European naval domain through cooperation between
European Nations, Industries and Organisations at the same time.
OCCAR delegates Gennaro Falcone, PPA Programme
Operational Coordinator and Q&A Officer, and Franco Perla, Platform
Assistant Officer, presented the PPA Programme as a real world demonstration of
a complex product managed by OCCAR timely and effectively, being perfectly coherent
with the three key technology trends, which emerged during the symposium, as
essential drivers of naval modernisation:
1. Hybridization for enhanced efficiency and
operational flexibility;
2. Systems engineering for integrated and
resilient drive systems; and
3. Digitalization for predictive maintenance and
real-time control.
The Multi Modular Patrol Corvette (also named
as EU EPC CALL 1) is a project co-funded by the European Union, under the
European Defence Fund, and Italy, France, Spain, Greece and Norway. OCCAR has
been entrusted the management of the EU EPC CALL 1 project by the European
Commission (EC) and the Participating States.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and
opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not
necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission.
Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible
for them.
The PPA (Pattugliatori Polivalenti d’Altura)
Programme has the purpose of realising innovative Multipurpose Patrol Ships,
aimed at replacing different types of Italian Navy ships such as patrol Boats,
Corvettes and Frigates. It includes Design, Development, Production and “ten-year
ISS”of seven ships. A PPA is a multipurpose combat ship, born to innovate,
projected to be flexible, responsive, fast, agile and capable to manage
multiple payloads. Four PPAs have been already delivered to the Ialian Navy and
they are proving their project reliability all over the world.
Read more about the PPA Programme here: OCCAR - PPA - MULTIPURPOSE PATROL SHIP