Fincantieri Will Upgrade the Frigates “Sagittario” and “Perseo” for the Peruvian Navy
(Source: Fincantieri; issued Oct. 28, 2005)
TRIESTE, Italy --- Fincantieri has reached an agreement to upgrade the Lupo-class frigates “Sagittario” and “Perseo” for the Peruvian Navy. The two ships, currently berthed at the Naval Dockyard at La Spezia, will be delivered to the Peruvian Navy in the second half of 2006.
The agreement follows the recent purchase by the Peruvian Navy of the ships of the same class “Lupo” and “Orsa”, now re-named “Aguirre” and “Palacios”, and delivered in May and June this year after completion of repairs and maintenance work on the platform and on the systems installed on board at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Muggiano.
In both cases the vessels concerned are being transferred, by the Italian Navy, to Fincantieri, which successively hand them over to the Peruvian Navy after they had been upgraded.
The operations constitute a new way of proceeding and are highly important for Fincantieri and for Italy given the interesting prospects opening up in the “second hand” market.
Transfer of the frigates to Peru is made possible by legislation which permits the direct handover of defence assets to a foreign nation through the builder, that is in this case Fincantieri.
By incorporating two further vessels in its fleet the Peruvian Navy will be able to draw on a homogeneous squad of eight Lupo-class frigates.
Since the mid 1970s Fincantieri built eighteen Lupo-class frigates, eight of which for the Italian Navy (four of which were originally scheduled for the Iraqi Navy), six for the Venezuelan Navy and four for the Peruvian Navy.
The success of this class of light frigates, which have indeed stood the test of time, is demonstrated by the fact that, given the exceptional performance levels of the platform and the high potential of the systems on board, following upgrading and maintenance these vessels are ready for a second operating life.
Guest of honour at the ceremony of the signing of the agreement between the Peruvian Navy and Fincantieri was the Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, Admiral Sergio Biraghi, on an official visit to Peru.
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