ENS ''Bernees'' (FFG 1003) is a

FREMM multipurpose frigate The European multi-purpose frigate or FREMM (; ) is a Franco-Italian family of warships designed by Naval Group and Fincantieri. This surface combatant is known in France as the ''Aquitaine'' class (17 units planned, of which 9 were later cance ...

of the

Egyptian Navy The Egyptian Navy (), also known as the Egyptian Naval Forces, is the maritime branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy in the Middle East as well as Africa, and is the twelfth largest (by the number of vessels) navy in the w ...

. ''Bernees'' was originally constructed as the ''Carlo Bergamini''-class ''Emilio Bianchi'' before being acquired by Egypt and being renamed.

Development and design

Planning assumptions for the

Italian Navy The Italian Navy (; abbreviated as MM) is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) after World War II. , the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 active per ...

are for ten FREMM-IT vessels comprising four

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

(ASW) variants and six general-purpose (GP) variants at a cost of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

5.9 billion. The FREMM-ITs will replace the and frigates in service with the Italian Navy. In the 2013 Italian budget, the Italian government laid out the necessary financing for two more GP variants (FREMM-IT 7 & 8) and the contract was awarded in September 2013. On 15 April 2015, the Italian Parliament confirmed the deal between

OCCAR The Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (French: ''Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en matière d'ARmement''; OCCAR) is a European intergovernmental organisation that facilitates and manages collaborative armament programmes throu ...

and Orizzonte Sistemi Navali Spa (Fincantieri and Finmeccanica, since 2017 Leonardo) to begin building units 9 and 10, for 764 million Euros. As of 16 April 2015, the Italian government has approved funding for all ten FREMM-IT to be delivered to the Italian Navy (4 ASW variants and 6 GP variants). FREMM-IT 9 & 10 will have undisclosed enhanced capabilities. All ten Italian FREMM-ITs have extended

anti-air warfare Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...

capabilities, with SAAM-ESD CMS, Aster 30 and Aster 15 missiles for extended area defence. SAAM-ESD CMS use Leonardo MFRA, a 3D active radar (AESA), an evolved version of the Leonardo

EMPAR EMPAR (European Multifunction Phased Array Radar) is a rotating C band multifunction passive electronically scanned array radar that reached IOC in 2006 and was initially built by Selex ES (previously SELEX Sistemi Integrati, since 2016 merge ...

PESA radar (previously embarked on s and the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

). Since the seventh FREMM-IT, there will be updates, such as new conformal

IFF In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (often shortened as "iff") is paraphrased by the biconditional, a logical connective between statements. The biconditional is true in two cases, where either both ...

antenna and much more stealth response. Since the ninth FREMM-IT, SCLAR-H replaced with Leonardo ODLS-20. In 2017 the Italian FREMM refit started with the installation on each of two SITEP MS-424 acoustic guns. In 2020 it was reported that Italy would sell its last two FREMM-class frigates in the current production line (''Spartaco Schergat'' and ''Emilio Bianchi'') to Egypt. ''Spartaco Schergat'' was in the final stage of her

sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s while ''Emilio Bianchi'' would follow within one year. The deal reportedly also involved other military equipment and was worth 1.2 billion Euros. It was reported that Italy would then order two additional FREMM frigates to replace those transferred to Egypt with the anticipated delivery of the replacements by 2024. Some sensitive equipment was deleted from the original Italian design, including the EW suite’s jammers, NETTUNO-4100 RECM system and Thales Altesse CESM equipment. SATCOM antennas were also removed from the communication suite.

Construction and career

On 25 January 2020, the launching ceremony of the ship took place at the

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

plants in

Riva Trigoso Riva may refer to: People * Riva (surname) * Riva Castleman (1930–2014), American art historian, art curator and author * Riva Ganguly Das (born 1961), Indian diplomat * Riva (footballer), Brazilian former footballer Rivadávio Alves Pereira (b ...

. She is expected to be commissioned in April 2021. On 24 February 2021, she left

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

to undergo her first sea trial. The vessel was delivered to the Egyptian Navy in April 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernees, FFG 1003 Ships built by Fincantieri 2020 ships Ships built in Riva Trigoso Bergamini-class frigates (2011) Frigates of the Egyptian Navy