With a ceremony that took place at Leghorn port on 7 December Fincantieri delivered the Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) Trieste to the Italian Navy. The event was attended by Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella, the Minister of Defence Guido Crosetto, the Chief of Defence, General Luciano Portolano, and the Italian Navy Chief, Vice-Admiral Enrico Credendino. Concurrently Naval Academy officer cadets took the solemn oath on board the ship
The delivery of the Trieste ‘multirole’ LHD to the Marina Militare, the largest military vessel built since the end of World War II by the national naval and defence industry, marks the end of a journey that began some 14 years ago with the signature of a € 1.1 billion contract between the Italian MoD’s Naval Armaments Directorate (NAVARM) and a temporary industrial consortium led by Fincantieri as prime contractor and Leonardo as combat system integrator, and main subcontractors, alongside MBDA Italia and ELT Group. The contract also included a logistic and training package.
“This is the fruit of the work of thousands of people: engineers, technicians, workers. Only a few nations can build a work of ingenuity and high technology like this, which encompasses history, knowledge, advanced technology,” Minister Crosetto said, adding that the vessel’s heart is the crew with the members’ values, ideals and spirit of cooperation, referring to the 150 officer cadets of the Naval Academy under solemn oath, that took place for the first time on board a ship.
Conceived and designed under the ‘dual-use’ and ‘one fits all’ concepts to accomplish a wide range of missions, from the support to amphibious and power projection operations from sea in national-joint and multinational contexts with command and control capabilities, to the support to Civil Protection and multinational agencies in disaster relief, humanitarian, medical and evacuation operations, the new ship will also be capable to operate as ‘alternate aircraft carrier’ vessel being capable to operate the national 5th generation air component based on the F-35B STOVL aircraft version, when the Cavour STOVL aircraft carrier will not be available due to maintenance or operational reasons.
“With the delivery of the Trieste, the Navy is equipped with a symbol of modernity and national technological level, a valuable asset, which will improve our national power projection and deterrence capability, in a historical moment, such as the current one, characterized by new and emerging threats to security, also in the light of recent events in the Middle East,” General Portolano said.
In the context of the modernization of Italy’s military instrument, the “Trieste LHD emerges as an absolute novelty, the first unit of its kind built by the Italian shipbuilding industry. This multi-role amphibious assault unit represents a technical excellence with advanced projection capabilities and the ability to conduct amphibious assault operations, ensuring a prolonged stay in the operational area thanks to its high logistical autonomy,” stated the Italian Navy Chief during the ceremony, adding that the new ship has provisions and growth capabilities to operate air, sea surface and underwater unmanned systems.
“With its advanced technological and operational capabilities, this unit not only strengthens Italy’s international projection, but also testifies to Fincantieri’s excellence as a reliable and innovative partner for defense,” Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO and General Manager of Fincantieri said.
Already assigned to the 3rd Naval Division, the Trieste LHD will be homeported in Taranto after completing initial training in La Spezia. It is the flagship of the Amphibious Task Group (ATG) which, together with the Carrier Strike Group (CGS with the Cavour carrier as its flagship), makes up the Expeditionary Task Force (ETF), the operational component of the Italian Navy fleet. The F-35B operational capability will be reached after the platform warranty works, with dedicated systems installation by Fincantieri planned for Q3 2025, and the following certification of the ship and the added systems by the F-35 Joint Program Office, planned to be carried out in the United States.
Conceived as an LHD, the platform has an overall length of 245 meters, an overall beam ranging from 36 metres at flight deck level up to a maximum of 55 meters including working elevators, a construction height of 27.7 meters and a full load displacement of 36,770 tonnes. The Trieste has a full-length deck with a starboard-positioned island based on two separated blocks, two lateral elevators connecting the flight deck with the hangar in the central-stern area, a NATO Role 2E hospital, accommodation and C4ISR facilities in the bow-central areas in the lower decks and a stern well deck.
Certified by RINA Services according to the latest anti-pollution and green international rules, the new platform has wide accommodations and living spaces for a total of 1,064 personnel including a 360-crew component, while the remaining beds are split between aviation, support, command and control and amphibious components. Thanks to its transport and aviation capabilities, the Trieste LHD will be able to ensure the operations of the embarked 600-personnel strong amphibious battalion. Extended facilities are however devoted to NATO ‘Role 2E’ hospital and interoperable C4ISR within NATO, European and international contests. It will be also capable to provide potable water and electrical power ashore in case of disaster relief and humanitarian operations.
The stern 50 x 15 metres well deck can accommodate up to four new type LC-23 LCM (Landing Craft Medium) or one LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushion) in addition to an organic component including two 15 metres combat boats and two-each 7.1 and 9.3 metres RHIBs.
The Trieste LHD has an 18×50 metres garage deck capable to host military and civil vehicles up to the 60+ tonnes main battle tanks and can accommodate up to 1,200 linear metres of vehicles, also including the use of the hangar and flight deck areas. Vehicles can board the ship via the rear ramp as well as the starboard ramp.
The 230 x 36 metres flight deck features a 12° ski-jump has nine helicopter spots; it can accommodate both rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft including EH-101, NH-90, CH-53, CH-47, AV-8B and F-35B air assets both on the flight deck and the 107.8 x 25 metres hangar. In the aircraft carrier configuration, the Trieste LHD can accommodate up to 20 F-35Bs aircraft and two NH-90 helicopters.
With a propulsion package in a CODOGOL (Combined Diesel Or Gas Or eLectric) configuration based on two shafts with controllable pitch propellers and rudders provided by Fincantieri and centred on two Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines each rated at 38 MW, two MAN 20V32/44CR diesel engines rated at 12 MW each and two 2.25 MW-each General Electric Power Conversion electric motors, the new ship can reach a maximum speed of 25 knots on gas turbines, 18 knots on main diesels and 10 knots on electric motors. Electrical power generation for both ship systems and propulsion is provided by four 5.4 MW-each MAN 9L32/44CR gensets.
Developed under the Legge Navale or Naval Law programme, the Trieste LHD exploits the latest electronics and system developments. The Integrated Platform Management System is based on the Fincantieri Nextech SEASNavy new generation system, while the SADOC Mk4 is the latest iteration of the Command Management System developed by Leonardo for the new generation of Italian Navy’s frontline vessels. Leonardo also provides the core of the extensive communications suite with software defined radios, multiple data links processor and SATCOM, while the navigation radars come from GEM Elettronica.
The integrated sensors’ suite includes the Leonardo new generation four fixed-faces X-band StarFire AESA radar (with provision for the C-band radar of the Dual Band Radar suite) and the new generation L-band Kronos Power Shield early warning radar characterized by an AESA rotating antenna and full digital architecture with ‘digital beamforming’ for long-range surveillance, detection and tracking of both air breath and ballistic missiles targets. These radars are integrated with the new Leonardo SIR-M-PA IFF system equipped with conformal antenna, as well as the new generation EW suite developed and provided by the ELT Group based on an EW manager controlling Radar Electronic Support Measures, Communication ESM and Radar Electronic Counter-Measures systems. The EW suite is interfaced with Leonardo two ODLS-20 (Oto Melara Decoy Launching System) decoy launchers for both air, surface and underwater defence.
The LHD will also share the same Distributed Static Staring IRST EO/IR suite by Leonardo installed on the PPA Full in addition to Sitep Italia Multirole Acoustic Stabilized Systems with surveillance and non-lethal weapons suite that includes the acoustic cannon and the laser dazzler.
The air traffic and approach suite includes the Leonardo SPN-720 solid-state, low probability of Intercept (LPI) naval precision approach radar, the Thales Italia TACAN and Calzoni visual landing aids. Additional equipment will be installed with the suite designed for the F-35B operations.
The ship’s protection against air, missile and surface threats is ensured by three Leonardo 76/62 mm Super Rapido Multi-feeding gun mountings in the Davide (Strales for international sales) configuration with DART guided ammunition, controlled by a dual radar/EO NA-30S Mk2 fire control system and three remotely controlled KBA 25/80 mm guns with EO/IR FCS. The ship is also fitted-for but not with (Level 1) the MBDA Italia SAAM Extended Self-Defence air-defence system based on two vertical launching system (2×8 cells each) for the Aster 15/30 on the starboard ship’s side. The underwater protection is provided by the Obstacle Avoidance System sonar provided by Leonardo together with the Black Snake towed-array torpedo detection system integrated through a Reaction Management System with the two OLDS-20 decoy launchers.
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