Two Yards, One Company: Fincantieri and Navantia Take Over the European Corvette as France Hesitates

11/11/2026
By Defense.info

Fincantieri and Navantia have agreed to form a 50/50 joint venture to run their national European Patrol Corvette programmes and to sell the ship for export. Naval Group sits in the design consortium for the next phase of the programme, but it has not committed to the joint venture.

The agreements were signed at Euronaval in Paris on 4 November. There were two of them.

The first was a three-company consortium agreement among Fincantieri, Navantia and Naval Group, signed with representatives of the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) present. It moves the programme from its first phase (EPC1) to its second (EPC2). The programme’s official European Defence Fund name is the Modular and Multirole Patrol Corvette. EPC1 covered concept studies, preliminary design, key technologies and common standards. EPC2 is to complete preliminary and detailed design and take the ship towards industrialisation, around a common Full Combat Multipurpose platform that each navy can tailor. European Commission project documentation describes EPC2 as a 48-month effort costing an estimated €288.3 million, meant to deliver a certified design and one prototype platform for each of the combat and long-range versions.

The second was a bilateral Heads of Agreement between Navantia and Fincantieri. It records the main understandings for an incorporated joint venture and frames negotiation of the definitive documents. It follows a memorandum of understanding between the two companies on 13 February 2026. Each company will hold 50 per cent. The joint venture is to take overall responsibility for developing the national programmes and act as the contracting entity for the related contracts. It will also gather functional-design coordination, procurement of common ship elements, co-production, lifecycle support and export work. Navantia says the company is meant to be “a fully functioning business,” not “a mere coordination office.”

France’s place is open. RID, citing the release, says French participation in the industrial group “is still to be defined” and that Naval Group is evaluating whether to join. Navantia’s own wording is that the partners intend to welcome other European partners, “such as Naval Group, who is considering joining,” bringing their national EPC shipbuilding programmes into it. Spanish reporting notes earlier French doubts about whether the design suits the replacement of the Floréal-class ships.

Spain has already put money behind its share. On 27 October the Council of Ministers approved €1.786 billion in zero-interest repayable advances to Navantia for six corvettes of the Spanish variant. Royal Decree 922/2026 was published on 30 October and took effect on 31 October. The money runs from €156 million in 2026 to €301 million in 2031. It is partial pre-financing, not the total cost of the ships, and it does not award a construction contract: if Navantia draws early funds without a contract with Defence, it must return them should that contract not be signed by 31 October 2027.

What the Euronaval agreements settle is the industrial route through which Spain’s and Italy’s corvettes will be contracted and built. The joint venture is not yet incorporated, no Italian build number or timetable has been announced, and whether France joins remains undecided.

Sources