15. June 2019

Launching ceremony of first PPA

The launching ceremony of the first PPA was held on 15 June 2019 at Fincantieri Shipyard in Muggiano – La Spezia.

The ship has been named after Paolo Thaon di Revel, a Marquess, an Admiral of the Italian Navy during World War I and later a politician. He was Minister of the Navy and nominated “Grand Admiral” in 1924.

Admiral Paolo Thaon Marquess of Revel

Mrs. Irene Imperiali, grand daughter of Admiral Paolo Thaon, was the Godmother of the ceremony. As is customary, she was asked by the shipyard Director to cut the ribbon to smash a bottle of Spumante against the ship's hull.

The ship’s launching ceremony is one of the oldest naval traditions, a way of blessing the ship and wishing the best of luck for its future life at sea.

The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Defence, together with the most senior Italian Defence and Navy Authorities, the OCCAR-EA Director and senior managers from both the Fincantieri and Leonardo Companies.

Under the supervision of the Italian Naval Armament Directorate and the OCCAR PPA Programme Division, the first PPA will soon be at sea, only 4 years after contract signature. PPA Paolo Thaon di Revel will be the first of 7 ships to be delivered by the end of 2026.

PPA is a class of Multipurpose Offshore Patrol vessels whose characteristics meet the Italian concept of “Multi-Purpose by Design” shared within the NATO Community. The Multi-Purpose by Design model will allow the Italian Navy to cope with dynamic and complex operational challenges and maintain maritime control with appropriate and timely actions, making it possible to carry out numerous profiles of operations. The fundamental characteristic of PPA is a high level of innovation, which provides the vessels with a considerable degree of efficiency and flexibility whilst serving different mission profiles. They have been designed with enhanced multipurpose features, either to perform traditional military tasks or to support humanitarian and disaster relief assistance operations, through new and enhanced modular capabilities. The PPA class also meets the environmental sustainability requirements of the “Green Fleet” project.

Based on a common platform, PPAs are built in 3 different configurations: LIGHT (2 ships), LIGHT PLUS (3 ships) and FULL (2 ships). The LIGHT version has a full set of artillery; the LIGHT PLUS version adds a missile firing capability with actuators also planned for ballistic missile defence; the FULL version will be able to operate in all traditional warfare domains, i.e. Surface, Air and Underwater. LIGHT and LIGHT PLUS have been developed with the “fitted for” approach: every system on the FULL can be quickly deployed on the LIGHT and LIGHT PLUS, facilitating operational flexibility and capability growth during the life of the Ships.

Paolo Thaon di Revel is a PPA of the LIGHT configuration and its first sea trial is planned by mid-October 2019.