Fincantieri Marinette Marine: The US Gov't awards contract within the MMSC Programme for Saudi Arabia

The United States government awarded to a Lockheed Martin-led team, which includes Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM), an Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA), to advance work in support of the construction of four Multi-Mission Surface Combatants ships, as part of the Foreign Military Sales program for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Fincantieri will be the builder at the Marinette yard in Wisconsin, the shipbuilding group said on Friday.

The UCA, awarded in an amount of up to 450 million dollars, will fund detailed design and planning in support of construction, which will be performed by Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine. The Multi-Mission Surface Combatant is a lethal and highly maneuverable multi-mission surface combatant, which features the flexibility of the Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship steel mono-hull, built by the same team, an increased range of 5,000 nautical miles and speeds in excess of 30 knots, making it capable of littoral and open ocean operation, and able to confront modern maritime and economic security threats.

Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, commented: “This prestigious award proves the farsightedness of our decision to enter the US market. Since then, over the past ten years we have become a reference builder not only for the US Navy, but also for several foreign Navies, while contributing to the development of the industrial base and of the economic fabric in the Midwest”.

Lockheed Martin and FMM, together with the naval architect Gibbs & Cox and over 800 suppliers in 42 states, are already cooperating for the US Navy’s LCS program, one of the most ambitious in the world within the surface ships.

Fincantieri Marine Group (FMG), which owns Fincantieri Marinette Marine and two more yards again in the Great Lakes region, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and Fincantieri Ace Marine, since 2008 has invested more than 130 million dollars to modernize the Wisconsin shipyards, hiring and training more than 1,000 people.