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The latest incident to befall the U.S. Navy’s troubled Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) was an embarrassingly public one, and one that left the brand-new USS Cleveland (LCS-31) damaged in the process of being launched, in front of around 3,000 people, including members of the media. The Navy has now issued a statement providing more details of the collision between the Cleveland — which is the last of the 16-strong Freedom class — and a tugboat involved during the warship’s recent christening. "No personnel injuries occurred, but there was limited damage” to the Cleveland, the Navy said, of the April 14...

Nearly three years after the first cut of steel for the first Great Lakes freighter in nearly 40 years, the 639-foot M/V Mark W. Barker embarked on her maiden voyage today from Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding. “This is a monumental day for our company and the US flag fleet as our much-anticipated freighter departs on her first voyage in what will be a long life of service on the Great Lakes,” says Mark W. Barker, President of The Interlake Steamship Company and namesake of the vessel – the company’s first new build since 1981. “The construction of this vessel, which was...

Fincantieri The US Navy announced in February that five types of warships would compete for a bid to supply the branch with 20 next-generation guided-missile frigates. And last week, we got to tour one of those five frigates: Fincantieri's FREMM Alpino, a ship outfitted with anti-submarine systems. "The world has changed certainly in the last two years when you take look at what Russia is doing and what China is doing," retired Admiral Rick Hunt, who now works for Fincantieri, told Business Insider on the ship's bridge. "And frankly, I think that means we got to up the game of...

A FREMM vessel designed by Fincantieri in Sydney’s harbor. PHOTO: FINCANTIERI CANBERRA, Australia—U.S. allies are embarking on a naval shopping spree as territorial standoffs intensify in the Pacific. Contracts valued at about $70 billion are up for grabs from Australia to Canada, as governments update aging fleets to protect shipping lanes and their territorial waters. While defense spending globally had fallen over the past decade, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute expects spending this year to be the highest since the close of the Cold War. Nations in Asia and the Middle East are leading the charge. That is a...

BALTIMORE HARBOR: The U.S. Navy is in the market for a new frigate, and the ship of the future might be sitting pierside in Manhattan. The Italian frigate ITS Alpino steamed out of Baltimore harbor Wednesday evening to spend a few days in New York and Boston, the final leg of an East Coast tour that also saw it conduct training operations with the USS Gonzalez off the Virginia coast. For Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri — and its Marinette, Wisc.-based subsidiary, Fincantieri Marine Group, — the tour is a prime opportunity to show off the capabilities of the ship that is...

“I said to the governor of Wisconsin that getting Fincantieri to invest in our states was the best thing we ever did as governors,” says Jennifer Granholm, who was a two-term governor of Michigan until she left office in 2011. Her story, and that of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri in America, which now builds the US Navy’s littoral combat ships and has been “down selected” (as the military puts it) to the final shortlist to build the navy’s new frigates, is acutely relevant to one of the most important decisions the Turnbull government will make. In the coming month or six...

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has unveiled a model and artwork of a unique multi-role amphibious ship it is building for the Qatari Navy. Still in the grips of a simmering diplomatic spat with its neighbors, and under a physical and economic blockade, Qatar expects the vessel, along with four other Italian-made corvettes, will significantly expand its naval capabilities in the region. Fincantieri offered a closer look at the designs for the Qatari landing platform dock, or LPD, and corvettes at the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition & Conference, or DIMDEX, earlier in March 2018. In June 2016, Qatar signed the initial...

At DIMDEX 2018, the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition & Conference currently held in Qatar, Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri is showcasing for the first time the multi-role air defence corvettes for the Qatari Navy. The future multi-role air defence corvette of the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces. Fincantieri Qatar confirmed in August 2017 its order for seven vessels from Fincantieri following the signing of a preliminary contract in June 2016. The deal consists in four air defence corvettes of over 100 meters in length, one amphibious vessel (LPD - Landing Platform Dock acting as mobile radar station for the corvettes), and...

Qatar confirmed today its order for seven vessels from Italian shipbulder Fincantieri following the signing of a preliminary contract in June 2016. The deal consists in four air defence corvettes of over 100 meters in length, one amphibious vessel (LPD - Landing Platform Dock acting as mobile radar station for the corvettes), and two patrol vessels (OPV - Offshore Patrol Vessel) Fincantieri air defence corvette QatarDesign of the air defence corvettes allegedly contracted by Qatar in the amount of four units. Picture: Fincantieri. "We have signed a contract on behalf of the Qatari navy to acquire seven warships from Italy...

Qatar confirmed today its order for seven vessels from Italian shipbulder Fincantieri following the signing of a preliminary contract in June 2016. The deal consists in four air defence corvettes of over 100 meters in length, one amphibious vessel (LPD - Landing Platform Dock acting as mobile radar station for the corvettes), and two patrol vessels (OPV - Offshore Patrol Vessel) Fincantieri air defence corvette QatarDesign of the air defence corvettes allegedly contracted by Qatar in the amount of four units. Picture: Fincantieri. "We have signed a contract on behalf of the Qatari navy to acquire seven warships from Italy...

Italian state-controlled ship builder Fincantieri has won a €4 billion contract from Qatar as leader of Italy’s defense industry to supply five warships equipped with radars, systems and missiles, according to trustworthy sources of Il Sole 24 Ore-ItalyEurope24. The official ratification of the agreement will take place tomorrow afternoon in Rome between Italy’s Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti and her counterpart from Doha, Khalid bin Muhammad Al-Attiyar. Fincantieri will supply to Doha four corvette warships and a support vessel. The order is very important also for Leonardo-Finmeccanica, which is bound to receive about half the total amount for the supply of...

TRIESTE, Italy, April 17 (UPI) -- Italian shipbuilder Orizzonte Sistemi Navali and DCNS of France have announced the construction of combat vessels for the navies of Italy and Egypt. Orizzonte Sistemi Navali S.p.A. said that OCCAR, the European Union agency in charge of multinational weapons procurement projects, had notified them that the Italian Navy was exercising a contract option to obtain two FREMM frigates. The frigates would be the ninth and tenth for Italy under the Italian-French FREMM, or Multi Mission European Frigates, program. The value of the option exercise carries a value of about $818.1 million. "Considering the effort...

Abu Dhabi plans to build stealth ships Haseeb Haider 7 March 2012 ABU DHABI - A new joint venture shipyard in Abu Dhabi will construct stealth vessels and in the future plans to build upgraded marine engines in collaboration with Italy’s Fincantieri, which builds naval and merchant ships. Etihad Ship Building (ESB), in a joint venture deal with Abu Dhabi’s Al Fattan Ship Industries, weapons suppliers Melara Middle East of Dubai and Italy’s Fincantieri, will construct, refit and carry out maintenance of stealth vessels for the UAE Navy and regional navies. Initially, the joint venture shipyard will install the Rolled...