[Source / Guancha Observer Network, Mountain Cat]

According to a report on the Defense News website on May 26, Admiral Nicolas Vialle, Chief of Staff of the French Navy, stated at a meeting last week that Europe is facing an overabundance of shipyards - this is not "boasting" by the admiral in front of the United States, but rather highlights a problem: numerous shipbuilding enterprises are engaging in "disorderly competition," particularly with internal "infighting" in the export of warships, which is detrimental to Europe's overall ability to secure external orders.

Admiral Vialle pointed out at the National Assembly hearing on Wednesday, May 21, that the joint venture NAVRIS established in 2020 by Naval Group of France and Fincantieri of Italy for upgrading the Horizon-class destroyers was a "first step" in the integration of European naval enterprises; however, unfortunately, the expected goals were not fully realized.

(Material photo) The Italian-French Horizon-class formation underway. The Horizon-class destroyers and FREMM-type frigates are rare successful naval cooperation projects within Europe.

Vialle also noted that there are currently 14 shipbuilding companies worldwide vying for orders, whereas ideally, there should be 3 to 4 competing shipyards to secure key overseas export order shares.

He criticized that Europe lacks a unified naval strategy. Each country formulates its development path based on its own strategy to maintain domestic industry and economy, making it difficult to coordinate and unify warship construction through political means alone. Even between France and Italy, which have reached preliminary cooperation, from their respective national perspectives, it was inevitable that France chose Naval Group and Italy chose Fincantieri. Moreover, France will continue to protect its smaller coastal shipbuilding enterprises such as Piriou, Socarenam, and CMN.

Vialle told the deputies that if the shipbuilding industry wants to emulate Airbus and create a European ocean vessel giant, the key lies in the merger and reorganization of shipbuilding enterprises. However, NAVRIS, which was established earlier, was clearly not very successful. Although it holds the contract for upgrading the Horizon-class ships of both France and Italy, it has made little progress in seeking export orders outside of Europe and becoming a leader in shipbuilding integration.

Currently, major European military ship production enterprises include Naval Group of France, Fincantieri of Italy, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany, Damen of the Netherlands, Navantia of Spain, Saab Kockums of Sweden, among other well-known large industrial groups and their subsidiaries, as well as medium and small shipbuilding enterprises producing other auxiliary vessels and offshore products. From a unified European perspective, the number of these enterprises is indeed relatively high.

Regarding the difficulty of European shipbuilding industries in forming alliances, Vialle used the current products of the French and Italian enterprises as examples. France’s latest "Defense and Intervention" type frigate (FDI), with a displacement of approximately 4,500 tons, serves not only as the self-used "Admiral Ronac" class frigate for the French Navy but also meets the needs of some smaller navies, such as the Greek Navy purchasing the FDI as the "Kimon" class frigate. On the Italian side, they mainly promote their 7,000-ton新一代 multi-purpose offshore patrol vessel (PPA). In the subsequent planned DDX destroyer design, the displacement reaches up to 14,000 tons. These were considered by Vialle as "too large," highlighting the conceptual differences in future ship designs between France and Italy.

(Material photo) The first FDI "Admiral Ronac" of the French Navy

(Material photo) The first PPA "Paolo Thaon di Revel" of the Italian Navy

In addition, there are considerable differences in the export models of ships between the two countries. For example, since the 19th century, Italy has traditionally ordered ships in large numbers under the guise of naval self-use and then sold these ships under construction to foreign buyers when customers come forward. This approach can deliver ships to customers as quickly as possible. The armored cruisers of the "Giuseppe Garibaldi" class built starting in 1895 are a case in point: the first ship built for the Italian Navy, "Giuseppe Garibaldi," and the second ship, "Varese," were both sold to Argentina before completion. The third ship, which began construction in 1898, was renamed "Garibaldi" and sold to Argentina before being delivered to the Italian Navy. The fourth ship, renamed "Varese," was also sold to Argentina. It wasn't until the third cruiser named "Giuseppe Garibaldi" that began construction in 1899 that it was finally delivered to the Italian Navy.

On the French side, Naval Group has agreed to adopt a slightly different "ready-to-cook" model. Without customer orders, the shipyard pre-builds a "standard hull," allowing the customer to complete the necessary modifications in a relatively short time after purchase. If there are no international buyers, the French Navy can take over. Vialle mentioned that the current production speed of FDI by the Lorient shipyard of Naval Group is at least one ship per year, with the potential to increase to two ships annually. Currently, the French Navy has ordered five FDI ships, while Greece has purchased three. The first FDI of the French Navy, "Admiral Ronac," completed sea trials last month, and the first FDI of the Greek Navy, "Kimon," began sea trials on the 21st of this month. The French Defense Procurement Agency also considers the concept of "standard hull" promoted by Naval Group as a feasible solution. However, Vialle admitted that this solution carries certain "market risks," so it still requires convincing the financial department. Currently, Naval Group is competing with Italian, German, and British enterprises for the Norwegian Navy's frigate procurement project. The recent partnership agreement reached between Naval Group and Kongsberg of Norway may be related to this.

This article is an exclusive contribution by the Guancha Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7509061011440124468/

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