- Yes
- No
Description: In 2014, the Italian Navy presented a new document called “Legge navale 2014-2015,” which introduced various projects for new units, one of them being a new multirole class of frigate-sized warships, the PPA (Pattugliatore Polivalente d’Altura, in English: Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Vessel). This class wasn’t similar to anything planned before, as it was supposed to replace any ship from the size of a small patrol vessel (Cassiopea class) to the aging DDG (Durand De la Penne class), with 16 units initially planned. This initial large number was reduced for the first time after the EPC (European Patrol Corvette) programme was started in 2019. This new class of corvettes, built together with other European nations, aimed to replace various classes the PPA was initially going to replace, thus making the initial order of 16 units redundant and unnecessary. The number of PPAs was then reduced to 10, even though it was 7 de facto plus 3 as an option, which probably won’t ever be executed, as another class of small patrol vessels was announced in 2023 (the PPX class), with a total of 6 units planned for now (and the option to increase such number to 10), which is also going to replace vessels that the PPA was initially going to replace (the same thing that happened with the EPC). This unit is the Paolo Thaon di Revel P430, the first unit of the class in the Light configuration, which is the most basic one. Indeed, she only carries the “OPV armaments”: the 127/64 main cannon on the bow, the 76/62 mm Sovraponte cannon over the heli hangar, two 25 mm OTO/Oerlikon guns on the side, and two single 324 mm torpedo launchers for the Italo/French MU90 torpedo (these weapons would still be a lot for an OPV if you think about it). Since she joined the Italian fleet in 2022, she has been attending to various patrol missions around the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. In the future all the vessels in the light configuration (Thaon di Revel and Francesco Morosini) will be converted into the full version (the first-line frigate version, basically), with the addition of anti-ship missiles, VLS cells for long-range anti-air missiles, and an improved radar suite.
Specifications:
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Sources
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Fincantieri | Paolo Thaon di Revel Class
Classe Thaon di Revel - Wikipedia
Consegnato alla Marina il PPA Thaon De Revel – Analisi Difesa
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