Fincantieri is itching to build more ships for the US Navy

ROME — Fincantieri is ready to build everything from corvettes and unmanned vessels to ice breakers and cable laying ships for the U.S. government as it rebounds from the cancellation of the Constellation frigate program, a senior official has said.

“We are ready to take on complex shipbuilding,” George Moutafis, the CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group, told Defense News.

Fincantieri was ramping up production of Constellation frigates last year at its Wisconsin yard for the U.S. Navy when the program was scrapped due to delays driven by the Navy’s request for design modifications.

The service is now ordering smaller FF(X) vessels from HII’s Ingalls yard which are based on a U.S. Coast Guard cutter design.

Last month Fincantieri instead received orders to build Marine Landing Vessels .

Moutafis said the firm was now looking beyond that order at future potential contracts.

“The Navy is working on the full and final mix of the Golden Fleet and the Small Surface Combatant segment could be 70-plus vessels,” he said.

“They are favoring the lighter FF(X) but I can see also other types of vessels becoming part of the segment — 20 of them could be smaller but extremely lethal corvettes, or even large, unmanned vessels at some point,” he said.

“Apart from Small Surface Combatants, we are ready to build ice breakers, cable layers, manned and unmanned aluminium boats,” he added.

“We are monitoring how that dynamic evolves. We are well positioned to serve that,” he said.

Moutafis said Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine yard was primed to be a part of U.S. naval fleet expansion.

“We have already got the facilities with about $800 million invested. We were upping our game to prepare for Small Surface Combatant production in Wisconsin. We have the workforce, about 3,000 strong,” he said.

“My first priority is ensure stability in the yards today and make the most of the Landing Ship opportunity. But we will be ready to jump in,” he added.

As Fincantieri gets to work building four U.S. Marine landing vessels, the Navy has issued a Request for Proposal for a Vessel Construction Manager (VCM) to oversee the program and act as a buffer between the Navy and the yard.

The Navy has said the VCM will be “responsible for managing the entire construction program, from the design phase through to vessel delivery and post-delivery support.”

“They are aspiring to empower the VCM to make decisions on schedule, which is the key. They want quality construction fast,” said Moutafis, adding, “The Navy will hand off the program to the VCM. It is a whole different ballgame.”

The key would be the Navy giving the VCM a final design, with no later tweaking, he said.

“They are planning for the design to be final and complete on the Landing Vessels. The aspiration is zero change,” he said.

“They want to simplify, not complicate things. The intent is good. Where do we fit in? We will deal with the VCM and respect the lines. The Landing Vessels is our awesome opportunity to go back to doing what we do best - building naval vessels in serial production,” he added.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——一位高级官员表示，芬坎蒂尼造船厂已准备好为美国政府建造从轻型护卫舰、无人船到破冰船和电缆铺设船等各种舰艇，以从星座级护卫舰项目取消中恢复过来。

“我们已经准备好承接复杂的造船项目，”芬坎蒂尼海事集团首席执行官乔治·穆塔菲斯告诉《防务新闻》。

去年，芬坎蒂尼造船厂在其位于威斯康星州的船厂加紧生产美国海军的星座级护卫舰，但由于海军要求修改设计而导致延误，该项目最终被取消。

该部门目前正在向 HII 的 Ingalls 造船厂订购较小的 FF(X) 舰艇，这些舰艇是根据美国海岸警卫队巡逻艇的设计建造的。

上个月，芬坎蒂尼公司反而收到了建造海军陆战队登陆舰的订单。

穆塔菲斯表示，该公司现在正着眼于未来的潜在合同，而不仅仅局限于该订单。

他说：“海军正在制定黄金舰队的最终完整方案，小型水面作战舰艇部分可能超过70艘。”

“他们倾向于较轻型的 FF(X) 型护卫舰，但我认为其他类型的舰艇也会成为该领域的一部分——其中 20 艘可能是较小但极其致命的轻型护卫舰，甚至在某个时候可能是大型无人舰艇，”他说。

“除了小型水面作战舰艇外，我们还准备建造破冰船、电缆铺设船、有人和无人铝制船艇，”他补充道。

“我们正在密切关注这一动态的发展。我们已做好充分准备来满足这一需求，”他说。

穆塔菲斯表示，芬坎蒂尼集团旗下的马里内特海事船厂已做好准备，成为美国海军舰队扩建的一部分。

“我们已经投入约8亿美元建设了相关设施。我们正在加紧准备，为在威斯康星州生产小型水面作战舰艇做准备。我们拥有约3000名员工，”他说道。

“我的首要任务是确保船厂目前的稳定运作，并充分利用登陆舰项目的机会。但我们随时准备投入战斗，”他补充道。

芬坎蒂尼造船厂开始建造四艘美国海军陆战队登陆舰之际，海军已发布船舶建造经理 (VCM) 的招标书，以监督该项目并作为海军和造船厂之间的缓冲。

海军方面表示，VCM 将“负责管理整个建造计划，从设计阶段到舰艇交付和交付后支持”。

“他们希望赋予VCM（海军项目管理公司）按计划做出决策的权力，这才是关键。他们想要快速建造高质量的建筑，”穆塔菲斯说道，并补充道，“海军会将项目移交给VCM。这完全是另一回事了。”

他说，关键在于海军要给VCM一个最终设计方案，之后不能再做任何修改。

他说：“他们计划最终确定登陆舰的设计方案，力求做到零改动。”

“他们想简化事情，而不是复杂化。出发点是好的。我们该如何融入其中？我们会配合VCM（海军陆战队司令部）的工作，并尊重既定路线。登陆艇项目是我们重拾所长的绝佳机会——批量生产海军舰艇，”他补充道。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。