Paris – French Navy Chief of Staff Nicolas Vaujour said at a parliamentary hearing last week that there are too many naval shipyards in Europe for business and that the industry needs to consolidate a few players.
“Unfortunately, the joint venture between Naviris in Italy's Fincantieri and France's Naval Group is the first step in a broader European naval merger,” Vaujour told the National Assembly's National Defense Committee on Wednesday.
“Today, in Europe, we have about 14 shipyards competing against each other everywhere,” Vaujour said. “In an ideal world, we will have three or four challenges each other, but first to win the export market share.”
The French naval commander said that Europe lacks a naval strategy, and that the country has a national strategy and strives to gather. According to Vaujour, political initiatives may not be the way to consolidate the military shipbuilding industry as the government is keen on protecting regional industrial activity and economies.
“From an industrial perspective, we have a more coherent ambition, to say, to diversify the market,” Vaujour said. “But the reality is that we all agree here that if we have to choose between the Navy Group and Fincantieri, it’s obviously the Navy Group. When you’re in Italy, they certainly say Fincantieri.”
According to the Admiral, France also wants to protect smaller naval yards along its coast, such as Piriou, Socarenam and CMN.
This means that building a navy equivalent to the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus will first depend on the shipbuilding company, “that is, “that is, if they manage to merge,” Vaujour told lawmakers. “We are not successful on Fincantieri. ”
When the Navy and Fincantieri founded Naviris, they said the joint venture would serve the French and Italian navies, but also sought export opportunities outside Europe and became the leader in shipbuilding mergers. Naviris won a part Contract 1.5 billion euros In order to upgrade the French-Italian Horizon frigate in 2023, the success of the latter two regions is even more elusive.
According to Vaujour, France and Italy have “very very different” strategies of shipbuilding and ship size. France has been moving towards smaller frigates, with the latest Frégate De Défenseet d'T'T'T'T'T'T'T'T'COLTENT, or FDI, displaced with 4,500 metric tons, while Italy's new PPA offshore patrol containers replaced 7,000 tons, while the DDX Destracer's design was 14,000 tons.
“We think the size is a little too big,” Wojur said. He said FDI is attracting interest from European countries because frigates are suitable for small naval forces, a passable vessel that can be operated by small crew members. “So we have a disagreement about the vision of the ships in the future.”
According to Vaujour, France and Italy also use different economic models, with Italians buying “many ships” for their navy that they can resell, which can quickly fill potential export orders.
Vaujour said the French were discussing with the Navy Group about ordering a “blank hull” that would be available for export if there were no buyers, or joining the French fleet in advance. The Admiral said the Navy Group's current minimum productivity is 1 FDI per year for Lorient yards and said it could increase capacity to twice a year.
France has ordered five FDI guards from the Navy Group and last month the main ship of the Amiral Ronarc'h class completed the sea trail. The first of the three FDI frigates of the Greek Navy, HS Kimon, Start the sea trail May 21, Lorient.
“The first thing a partner interested in FDI asked is delivery time – how long can you provide me with frigates?” Vaujour said. “This is the only question when Norwegians, Swedes and Danes ask for FDI: ‘When can you deliver?’”
Vaujour said the Navy Group believed in the Blank Hull concept, while the Armament Bureau considered the model “very relevant”. He said the idea of ordering FDI hulls without a guaranteed buyer does have risks and the Treasury still needs to be convincing.
“Accelerating new contracts, we have to be able to do that,” Vaujour said. “Loritent is able to move two a year and we can help with that.”
recent Partnership Agreement According to Vaujour, it should be seen between the Navy Group and Consburg in Norway in the context of potential frigates being sold to the Royal Norwegian Navy. Norway is “very interested” in FDI, this is In competition Vaujour said with the designs from Britain, Germany and Italy, if France wins the deal, it will share the work with Consburg.
