HORIZON MLU

The Horizon Mid-life Upgrade Programme concerns the full enhancement of the four (4) HORIZON Class vessels, namely the “Andrea Doria”, the “Caio Duilio”, the “Forbin” and the “Chevalier Paul”. The refurbished ships will be delivered by the end of 2027 (1st Italian), mid-2029 (2nd Italian), end of 2029 (1st French) and end of 2030 (2nd French).

The major changes that will be made concern the AAW (Anti-Air Warfare) and EW (Electronic Warfare) domains, whilst optimising the initial In-Service Support (ISS) for common activities and maximising the benefits of co-operative procurement practices.

Fregate Europee Multi-Missione - Frégate Européenne Multi-Missions - FREMM

The FREMM Programme is the most ambitious and innovative European naval defence project. These multirole Frigates, designed to meet the through life requirements of the French and Italian navies in a changing environment, will set new standards for design and build costs. The management of the development, production and initial In-Service Support phases of this important naval Programme was assigned to OCCAR in 2005. The FREMM programme consists of the construction of of 18 ships: eight (8) for France, ten (10) for Italy.

The FREMM will be built in Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASM/ASW), Anti-Air Warfare (FREDA) and General Purpose (GP) versions.

The first FREMM was delivered in 2012 and the objective of contractual delivery is 2025 for the whole 18 frigates.

FREMM Participating States

French FREMM Technical Information

Italian FREMM Technical Information

HORIZON MLU

With the signing of the Horizon MLU Contract on 28 July 2023, the Mid-life Upgrade of the four (4) Horizon class vessels entered into the “operative phase”.

The main objectives of the MLU are obsolescence resolution of systems/ equipment, design, development and integration on board of the new systems. The main core of the common activities is focused on the development, production and integration on board of the AAW and EW domains’ systems. Furthermore, national variants are envisaged for other Combat and Platform domains’ systems.

Indeed, an Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) for all the systems/ equipment involved in the MLU activities is foreseen. The integration of the new systems on board are planned from the mid-year of 2026 for the IT FOC and from end 2027 for the IT FOS. For the French ships, activities are planned from the mid-year of 2028 for FR FOC and from the second half of 2029 for FR FOS. Activities are expected to be completed around the end of 2030 (+ guarantee period).