Drawing of the OPV by Fincantieri
As part of the Italian Navy OPV (Offshore Patrol Vessel) acquisition programme Orizzonte Sistemi Navali (OSN), the joint venture between Fincantieri and Leonardo… has signed a contract with the Italian Secretariat General of Defence and National Armaments Directorate for the construction of three next generation patrol vessels, with the options for a further three units and infrastructural upgrades required for the naval bases in Augusta, Cagliari and Messina, where the vessels will be based.
Fincantieri is the parent company of the Marinette based shipyard that has been building Freedom class LCS and will be building the US Navy’s new frigates. That shipyard also built USCGC Mackinaw, the 16 Juniper class WLBs, and the 14 Keeper class WLMs.
I am a little surprised by this. It had been reported that the six ships of the Sirio class and Cassiopea class would be replaced by 3,000 ton units of the European Patrol Corvette (EPC) program. This “PPX” program would be the third Italian Navy “patrol” vessel class being built concurrently along with the EPC and the Thaon di Revel class (also known as PPA for ‘Pattugliatore Polivalente d’Altura – Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Vessel’).
The description looks like a pretty typical modern, medium size OPV with an approximate length of 312′ (95 meters), a displacement of 2,300 tons and accommodations for 97. It appears the probable armament is a 76mm gun and a pair of 20 to 30mm mounts (probably the new Lionfish 30mm). That is a size the US Coast Guard might consider for operating in Atlantic Area, if we wanted to increase the total number of larger patrol cutters above the 36 currently planned.
No information was provided about the speed or range. Italian Navy ships tend to have relatively short range because they are designed to operate in the Mediterranean. I would guess range will be about 4,000 miles at about 14 knots. Speed will probably be about 24 knots.