Horizon-class

Summary

Description

The Horizon class is a class of air-defence destroyers that are currently in service with the French and Italian navies. While Italy designates them as destroyers and follows NATO classification, France refers to them as "frigates". These particular ships originally emerged from the Common New Generation Frigate (CNGF) program, which was a collaborative effort among France, the UK, and Italy. The program aimed to develop a new generation of air-defence warships. However, due to national requirements and workshare disagreements, along with several delays, the UK withdrew from the partnership in 1999 to focus on creating its own Type 45 destroyer.

The Horizon program traces back to the termination of the NATO Frigate Replacement for the 90s (NFR-90) project. In 1992, the three countries came together and by July 1993, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding for CNGF. The ships were to be equipped with the Principal Anti Air Missile System (PAAMS). However, differences in operational requirements among the three nations created complications. France and Italy desired the ships for short-range operations, while the UK needed vessels capable of providing wide-area defense. Eventually, a resolution was achieved through the adoption of a standard radar interface, which catered to the unique needs of all parties involved. The program's administrative responsibilities were divided between two project offices—one in Paris focusing on PAAMS and another in London concentrating on the ship's design, command and control systems, and secondary weaponry. This project involved contributions from DCN (France), GEC-Marconi (UK), and Orizzonte (Italy).

Despite the partnership's commitment, the UK opted out of the CNGF project in 1999 due to the five-year delay of the project and unresolved disagreements regarding vessel size, capability requirements, and the industrial structure of the program. After the UK's withdrawal, France and Italy pushed forward with the Horizon project. In September 2000, a contract was signed to jointly produce four ships, two for each country. These destroyers would be armed with the PAAMS missile system. The Italian Navy ordered the Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio as replacements for the Audace class, and the French Navy commissioned the Forbin and Chevalier Paul to succeed the Suffren-class ships. While two additional Horizon class ships were initially planned, these were later replaced by the FREDA air-defence variant of the FREMM multipurpose frigate. The French and Italian ships have different missile configurations and upgrades, with the Italian destroyers expecting an upgrade to their cannons to the 76 mm/62 Super Rapid Multi Feeding David/Strales version capable of utilizing guided projectiles in an anti-missile role.

Technical specifications