At the Fincantieri plant in Castellammare di Stabia, the bow section of the Emile Bertin, the third Bâtiment Ravitailleur de Forces (BRF) of the French Navy, was launched.
The ceremony was attended by senior officials from Fincantieri and Chantiers de l’Atlantique, high French and Italian civil and military authorities, including Admiral Chief Inspector Giuseppe Abbamonte, Director of Naval Armament – NAVARM.
The Bâtiment Ravitailleur de Forces (BRF) are strongly derived from the Italian Navy’s Logistic Support Ship Vulcano.
The Vulcano, with its particular characteristics and capabilities, caught the attention of the French Navy, which needed to replace its remaining Durance-class squadron replenishers that entered service in the early 1980s.
Thanks to the partnership between France and Italy for the Horizon/Orizzonte and FREMM programmes an agreement was quickly reached to make the LSS programme a bi-national initiative coordinated by OCCAR, the Joint Organisation for Armament Cooperation.
The French and Italian Programs
France has ordered four BRFs as part of the FLOTLOG programme, while Italy, after the Vulcano, has built the Atlante, which has recently completed tests before official delivery to the Italian Navy; the MM programmes include the construction of a third optional unit.
Fincantieri builds the bow section of the BRFs, while the other sections are fitted out in France at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire in collaboration with Naval Group.
In Saint-Nazaire, the various sections are welded together, including the bow section, which was built in Italy and is towed to France once launched and completed.
Distinctive Features of the Bâtiment Ravitailleur de Forces (BRF)
The BRFs differ from the Italian LSSs in the design of the bow, which has been modified to better deal with the ocean wave, a slightly higher displacement (31,000 tons), and the armament. For the first two French units, this consists of two 40mm RapidFire telescopic systems by Thales/KNDS FR, and two SIMBAD RC missile systems for Mistral 3 heat-seeking missiles by MBDA that can be used for air and anti-UAS defense, as well as for surface confrontation against thin naval units and USVs.
The Vulcano LSS currently has a pair of manually controlled 25x137mm KBA machine gun systems and is predisposed to receive a Super Rapido/Deck mounted 76/62mm cannon positioned at the bow.
Source and photo credit @Fincantieri
