Our current mission: The Mid-Life Upgrade of the Horizon Frigates

The HRZ programme delivered 4 ships between 2009 and 2011 (“Andrea Doria”,“Caio Duilio”, “Forbin” and “Chevalier Paul”) that will need to undergo their midlifeupdate between 2026 and 2030 with the aim to preserve the highest leveltechnology level of this class of vessels in order to maintain/increase theircapabilities/performances until their end of life.

In 2020 Naviris was awarded byOCCAR with a HRZ MLU Feasibility Study Contract, to be undertaken with thesupport of Fincantieri, Naval Group and other Suppliers like Eurosam, Leonardo,Thales, Sigen, MBDA. The HRZ MLU Feasibility Study, carried out over 15 months,was aimed at identifying and analyzing the modifications to be carried out onFrench (FR) and Italian (IT) HRZ class destroyers to cover three level of proliferatingof next future threats.

Following the completion of the Feasibility Study, the Nations tasked OCCAR tocommence preliminary activities in order to allow the preparation of a commonHRZ MLU Contract, including the AAW domain, to support the procurementactivities of the FR and IT HRZ MLU.

Then, IT and FR Ministries of Defence have entrusted OCCAR with themanagement of the HRZ Programme and they requested OCCAR, as theContracting Authority (CA), to seek for an offer from Industry for HRZ MLUContract.In January 2022, two contracts for additional de-risking studies were awarded toNaviris to be taken as reference for the MLU HRZ contract.

On 20th July 2022, OCCAR has issued to Naviris and Eurosam an Invitation ToTender (ITT) relevant to the MLU of the 4 FR/IT HRZ Destroyers concerning theoverall PF and CS update. Following the successful completion of the bid phaseNaviris, in co-contractorship with Eurosam, was then assigned the contract byOCCAR on July 2023.

In view of the above, the HRZ MLU Contract will fulfill the following major Nations’needs, which are Enhancement of the AAW Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM)capabilities, Platform (PF) and Combat System (CS) upgrades, and obsolescenceresolution.

After the development phase, the Integration of the new systems on board isplanned from September 2026 for the Italian First of Class (FOC) and from August2028 for the Italian Follow-on Ship (FOS). Then, for the French ships, integrationactivities are planned from mid-year 2028 for France FOC and end of year 2029 forFrance FOS. Activities are expected to be completed around the beginning of year2031 (+ guarantee period).