Future ITS Paolo Thaon di Revel, the Italian Navy’s first PPA (Pattugliatori Polivalenti d’Altura) multipurpose offshore patrol ship, started the first set of sea trials in the Gulf of La Spezia on November 12.
The first sea going, which took place after the ship’s launch in June this year, is a crucial contractual milestone towards the delivery of the ship to the Italian Navy, scheduled for May 2021.
Several platform systems and equipment installed on-board have been set up and successfully tested, according to the Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation (OCCAR).
PPA1 is expected to complete the sea trials in March 2021 and to be delivered to the Italian Navy in May 2021.
Responsible for the delivery of a total of seven ships in the class is Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, with first four ships currently in the production stage.
PPA ships will be capable of executing a range of missions, from patrol with sea rescue capacity to combat tasks, thanks to three different configurations.
The “light” configuration for patrolling tasks contains basic self-defense capabilities, the “light+” adds the anti-air capabilities while the “full” version is capable of handling three-dimensional threats (air, surface and underwater).
The light version has a complete set of artillery and is developed with the “fitted for” approach that makes it able to quickly deploy growing operational capabilities. The Light+ version adds the missile firing capability with actuators planned also for ballistic missile defense. The full version will be able to operate in every naval warfare domain, such as AAW, ASW and ASuW.
The 132.5-meter long ships will achieve speeds of over 31 knots, equipped with a combined diesel and gas turbine plant (CODAG) and an electric propulsion system.
According to Fincantieri, they will have capacity to provide electricity to land with 2,000 kw of power while two modular zones at the stern and at the center of the ship will allow the embarking of various types of containerized operating/logistic/residential/healthcare modules.
The second ship, also built in the light configuration, will be named after the Venetian Doge Francesco Morosini and will be launched in March 2020.
