Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has received a 410 million euro contract to deliver a second logistic support ship for the Italian Navy.
Awarded by OCCAR, the European organization for the management of cooperative armament programs, the contract covers the delivery of a combat management system and also includes an option for a third ship.
Fincantieri received the contract after delivering the first ship in the class, ITS Vulcano, in March this year. Vulcano had initially been scheduled for delivery in 2019, but a fire outbreak in July 2018 severely impacted the delivery schedule.
The follow-on LSS will be entirely built at the Castellammare di Stabia shipyard, with delivery scheduled for 2025.
Following delivery, the shipbuilder will provide support over the lifecycle of the vessel in the first ten years, divided into logistics and in-service support (maintenance), as well as the supply of naval components and machinery produced by Fincantieri Mechanical Systems and Components Unit.
The LSS is built as part of an Italian Navy multi-year program aimed at safeguarding Italy’s naval warfare capacity (known as the “Naval Act”). Fincantieri is currently building seven multi-purpose offshore patrol vessels (PPA) and the “Trieste” landing helicopter dock (LHD).
The 193-meter-long LSS feature a hospital and healthcare capabilities with operating rooms, radiology and analysis rooms, a dentist’s office and hospital rooms that will be capable of hosting up to 17 seriously injured patients.
They combine capacity to transport and transfer liquids (diesel fuel, jet fuel, fresh water) and solids (emergency spare parts, food and ammunitions) with four replenishment stations abeam and one astern.
The LSS design is also serving as the basis of the French FLOTLOG program (Flotte logistique), which will deliver four ships in the class for the French Navy. Fincantieri is delivering forward sections of the ships under the program.
