Fincantieri, Edge nab $500M-plus maintenance deal for UAE Navy fleet

ROME — The United Arab Emirates has handed a five-year, €500 million ($524 million) contract to a joint venture between local group Edge and Italy’s Fincantieri to carry out maintenance and upgrades for its naval fleet.

The joint venture, known as Maestral, which was created in May 2024, will oversee “comprehensive maintenance management of the UAE Navy to meet key operational and logistic needs” and support the UAE Navy’s “transformation journey to new levels of performance,” Fincantieri said in a statement.

The deal reflects the move by Italian firms, including Fincantieri and Leonardo, to enter into long-term partnerships with Gulf firms to transfer skills and technologies.

When it was launched, Fincantieri said the joint venture would be be 51% owned by EDGE but run by Fincantieri managers, and would aim to build and sell naval vessels to non-NATO countries, taking advantage of the UAE’s relations with other states and the export credit financing it offers.

State controlled Fincantieri is Italy’s main naval contractor and is also building FREMM frigates for the US Navy at its U.S.-controlled yard.

Founded in 2019, EDGE is a advanced technology group which groups 25 UAE firms and employs 8,000.

At the time it was created, the firms said the joint venture would enhance’s Edge’s ship design skills, while the joint venture would also develop mid-size submarines.

The new contract to maintain the UAE fleet was awarded by Tawazun Council, a government entity that works closely with the UAE Ministry of Defence and security agencies in the United Arab Emirates.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——阿拉伯联合酋长国已将一份为期五年、价值 5 亿欧元（5.24 亿美元）的合同授予当地 Edge 集团和意大利 Fincantieri 集团的合资企业，负责对其海军舰队进行维护和升级。

芬坎蒂尼集团在一份声明中表示，这家名为 Maestral 的合资企业成立于 2024 年 5 月，将负责“阿联酋海军的全面维护管理，以满足关键的作战和后勤需求”，并支持阿联酋海军“向新的绩效水平转型”。

该交易反映了包括芬坎蒂尼集团和莱昂纳多集团在内的意大利公司与海湾公司建立长期合作伙伴关系，以转移技能和技术的趋势。

Fincantieri 在成立之初表示，该合资企业将由 EDGE 持有 51% 的股份，但由 Fincantieri 的管理人员运营，其目标是利用阿联酋与其他国家的关系及其提供的出口信贷融资，向非北约国家建造和出售海军舰艇。

意大利国有的芬坎蒂尼集团是意大利主要的船舶承包商，并且还在其美国控制的船厂为美国海军建造FREMM护卫舰。

EDGE 成立于 2019 年，是一家先进技术集团，旗下拥有 25 家阿联酋公司，员工人数达 8,000 人。

该合资企业成立之时，两家公司表示，合资企业将提升 Edge 的船舶设计能力，同时还将开发中型潜艇。

维护阿联酋舰队的新合同由塔瓦尊委员会授予，该委员会是阿联酋政府实体，与阿联酋国​​防部和阿联酋安全机构密切合作。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。