The Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri announced that on March 28, 2024, it signed a contract with the Indonesian Ministry of Defense in the amount of 1.18 billion euros for the supply of two "multipurpose patrol ships" of the Italian Pattugliatore Polivalente d'altura (PPA) type for the Indonesian Navy, which are actually quite large multipurpose frigates.
The sixth "multipurpose patrol ship" P 435 Ruggiero di Lauria of the Pattugliatore Polivalente d'ALTURA type (PPA, Light Plus variant) under construction for the Italian Navy after a formal launching ceremony at the shipyard of the Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri in Mudgiano in La Spezia, 10.10.2023. Presumably, this ship has now been sold to Indonesia (with) Giorgio Arra
According to a statement from Fincantieri, Indonesia has sold two ships of the RRA type, which were under construction for the Italian Navy at the united shipyard in Riva Trigoso Mudgiano. Apparently, these are the ships P 435 Ruggiero di Lauria and P 436 Domenico Millelire - the sixth and seventh ships of the RRA type built for the Italian navy, their commissioning was planned for 2025 and 2026. The specific configuration of the ships for the Indonesian Navy has not been disclosed.
Recall that the construction of six "patrol ships" of the RRA type for the Italian Navy (the total planned cost of six units is 2.62 billion euros, with an option for four more ships) was provided for in the Law on the Fleet (Legge Navale) adopted by the Italian Parliament at the end of 2014 with a total financing cost of 5.428 billion euros. In addition to the construction of six "patrol" ships of the RRA type, this law provided for the construction of a universal landing ship LHA (Trieste, with a planned cost of 844 million euros), an integrated supply ship LLS (with a planned cost of 325 million euros, built as Vulcano at the Fincantieri shipyard in Riva Trigoso in Genoa) and two multi-purpose speedboats for special forces UNPAV (40 million euros, the construction was carried out by Intermarine). Contracts for the first six RPA ships and the LLS ship were awarded to the Fincantieri association with the participation of the European procurement Organization for cooperation in the field of armament OCCAR on May 7, 2015.
In total, the Italian navy has already contracted Fincantieri seven RPA ships (the contract for the seventh was issued in June 2019), the total cost of which is already 3.9 billion euros. At the same time, seven ships are divided into three groups according to configurations - two ships should be of the "Light" series, three - "Light Plus" and two - "full" "Full".
In fact, the command of the Italian Navy, after the approval of the Law on the Fleet, pushed through a significant increase in the size and cost of the warships planned for construction under this act. So, by the time the contract was issued, the Trieste UDC had "grown" from the 20,000 tons of full displacement and 180-190 meters in length declared by the fleet during the discussion of the Law a year earlier to 33,000 tons of full displacement and 245 meters in length, turning into a full-fledged aircraft carrier with the planned basing of F-35B fighters. The RRA project also made a similar "evolution", "increasing" in the "full" version from 4,500 tons of full displacement and a length of 120 meters to a total displacement of 5800-6400 tons and a length of 143 meters (132.5 meters between perpendiculars), which made it comparable to Italian FREMM-type frigates (total displacement of 6,900 tons and a length of 144 meters).
The RRA ship received a powerful combined diesel-gas turbine-electric installation, including two MTU 20V800 M91L diesel engines with a capacity of 13 thousand hp, an Avio Aero/GE Marine Solutions 32 LM2500+G4 afterburner gas turbine with a capacity of 43 thousand hp, four MAN GenSets 12V175D diesel generators with a capacity of 2200 hp and two electric motors with a capacity of at 2500 hp, the speed under diesels should reach 25 knots, and full - 33-35 knots. The cruising range will be 5,000 miles at 15 knots.The radio-electronic armament of the "patrol ship" has also become very impressive, which should include in the "full" configuration a dual-band radar complex with AFAR (C and X bands) created by Leonardo, which provides, among other things, missile defense capabilities, and towed and submerged GAS. The ship's armament should include the SAAM-ESD anti-aircraft missile system with 16 vertical launchers of the Aster 30 or 64 SAMM-ESD missiles, eight Teseo/Otomat Mk 2A Evolutio anti-ship missiles, the 127 mm/64 Leonardo LW artillery complex with the Vulcano guided weapons system, the 76 mm/62 Leonardo Sovraponte artillery complex with the Strales/Davide guided weapons system, two Leonardo KBA 25 mm artillery launchers, six 324 mm and two 533 mm torpedo tubes, anti-torpedo protection systems. Two NH90 or one AW101 helicopters should be permanently based in the hangar. In the aft part of the ship there is a ramp with a fast-launching 11-meter semi-rigid motor boat, as well as two so-called modular zones with the possibility of placing a total of 13 standard containers for reconfigurable payload there. The crew in full configuration should number 173 people.
The lead ship of the RRA type for the Italian Navy P 430 Paolo Thaon di Revel has been under construction since February 2017 in the "Light" configuration, its official laying was made on May 9, 2017. The ship was launched on June 15, 2019 in a high degree of readiness, began sea trials on November 12, 2019 and was commissioned into the Italian Navy on March 18, 2022.
The second RRA ship in the P 431 series, Francesco Morosini, was also built in the "Light" configuration and delivered to the Italian Navy on October 22, 2022. The third ship of the RRA type (the first in the "Light Plus" version) P 432 Raimondo Montecuccoli was commissioned on September 27, 2023. Currently, the fourth ship (also in the "Light Plus" version) P 433 Marcantonio Colonna and the fifth ship (the first in the "Full" version "Full") P 434 Giovanni dalle Bande Nere are at the testing stage, their delivery is expected in 2024. The sixth ship ("Light Plus" version) P 435 Ruggiero di Lauria was formally launched on October 10, 2023, and the seventh ship (in the "Full" version) P 436 Domenico Millelire was laid down in April 2022. Apparently, the sixth and seventh ships will now be completed for Indonesia, and two additional units of this type will be ordered for the Italian fleet instead.
The first two ships of the RRA type were built in the "Light" series, having a total displacement of about 5,830 tons. They are equipped with a "stripped-down" X-band AFAR radar, a less functional SAM (using only Aster 30 missiles), reduced electronic warfare equipment and do not have towed GAS and 324 mm torpedo tubes. The Light Plus ships, with a total displacement of 5880 tons, have a C-band AFAR radar and a full-fledged SAAM-ESD medium-range air defense system, as well as 324 mm torpedo tubes. Finally, ships of the "full" configuration, the head of which should be commissioned in 2024, should have a full displacement, according to various sources, from 6270 to 6400 tons and receive the full set of fire and electronic means described above, including a dual-band radar complex with AFAR (C and X bands) towed by GAS and Aster missiles 30 Block 1NT with anti-missile capabilities.
The Italian Navy retains an option for three more RRA-type ships (one each of the "Light", "Light Plus" and "full" versions), and the overall plans for the construction of ships of this type in increasingly improved modifications extend to 16 units by 2035.
Earlier, the Fincantieri association also signed a contract in June 2021 for the construction of six large FREMM-type frigates for the Indonesian Navy. Of these, three ships are planned to be built by Fincantieri in Italy, and three more - according to documentation and with the assistance of Fincantieri at the Indonesian shipbuilding enterprise RT RAL in Surabaya. However, due to the financial problems of the Indonesian side, the implementation of the program has not actually started yet.
The second entered service of the Italian navy "multipurpose patrol ship" P 431 Francesco Morosini of the Pattugliatore Polivalente d'ALTURA type (PPA, Light variant) in a single formation with two small anti-submarine ships of the Indonesian Navy Cut Nyak Dien and Wiratno of Project 133 (former ships of the GDR fleet) during the joint PASSEX exercises off Jakarta on 07/22/2023 (c) seawaves.com
