Italy Upgrades FREMM EVO Warships with New Radar and Cyber Systems to Counter Modern Threats.

Italy’s FREMM EVO frigate program has passed its Critical Design Review, formally closing design work and clearing the way for serial construction, according to OCCAR. The milestone keeps deliveries on track for 2029 and 2030 and signals how European navies are adapting proven hulls to missile, drone, and undersea threats that also concern U.S. and NATO planners.

The Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) announced on December 19, 2025, that the Italian Navy’s FREMM EVO program has completed its Critical Design Review across the platform, combat system, and whole warship with integrated logistics support. The review confirms that the design is mature enough to begin construction without major redesign risk, keeping the schedule aligned with deliveries planned for June 2029 and June 2030, and reinforcing Italy’s approach of evolving an existing frigate class rather than launching an all-new design.
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FREMM EVO will pair a stealthy, quiet hybrid-propulsion hull with cyber-resilient combat systems, dual-band AESA radar layered air defense, advanced ASW sonars, and dedicated counter-drone capabilities for high-end NATO operations (Picture source: OCCAR).

For shipbuilders and fleet planners, a CDR is the moment the government customer accepts that the drawings, interfaces, margins, and support concept are mature enough that steel can be cut without betting the schedule on late redesign. In FREMM EVO’s case, it also signals that Italy’s next Bergamini-class pair is no longer a paper evolution but a defined combat system aimed at the threat set Italian sailors have faced from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea, where cruise missiles, one-way drones, and seabed risks now sit alongside classic submarine and surface warfare.

The official narrative already hints at where the EVO diverges from earlier ships. Fincantieri and OCCAR describe a cyber-resilient Ship Management System for the platform side, upgrades to air conditioning and electrical distribution, and measures intended to improve the ship’s “green footprint,” all of which matter for endurance, signatures, and sustained high power operation. On the combat system side, FREMM EVO is set to receive the SADOC 4 cyber-resilient combat management system and fixed-face X-C dual-band radar sensors designed to support defense against theatre ballistic missile threats, alongside enhancements to electronic warfare, artillery and missile systems, sonar, communications, and tactical data links.

Those upgrades build on a hull form and propulsion architecture that has already proven flexible. The Italian Navy’s FREMM baseline is a 144.6 m frigate with CODLAG propulsion, combining a 32 MW LM2500+ gas turbine with electric motors for quiet running, reaching about 27 knots at top speed and around 6,000 nautical miles of range at 15 knots, with an azimuth thruster for low-speed maneuvering. The design’s quiet electric mode is central to submarine hunting, while the double helicopter hangar extends both ASW reach and surface strike options.

Where FREMM EVO becomes tactically interesting is the way it appears to merge Italian Navy lessons from newer ships into the proven FREMM envelope. Reporting from recent European naval exhibitions indicates the EVO configuration keeps the FREMM hull and propulsion but introduces new superstructures able to host systems seen on Italy’s latest-generation platforms under the national naval modernization law, including an integrated Leonardo Kronos Dual-Band Radar suite with fixed AESA arrays for 360-degree coverage. The ship is also described as fielding an evolved integrated electronic warfare suite oriented toward countering drones, plus a dedicated counter-UAS package combining detection, identification, and soft-kill effects, with hard-kill potentially centered on 30 mm remotely operated mounts firing airburst ammunition. In that configuration, the ship’s defensive bubble becomes layered, with long-range surveillance and cueing from the dual-band radar, rapid reaction gun engagement with 76/62 Strales using guided DART ammunition, and close-in defeat options against small drones and fast craft.

Underwater lethality remains a backbone requirement. All anti-submarine warfare capabilities and features of Italy’s in-service FREMM ASW units are expected to carry over to the new ships, including a suite built around a hull sonar paired with CAPTAS-4C variable depth sonar and a towed array, supported by embarked helicopters and lightweight torpedoes. That combination gives commanders options across the full ASW chain, from passive search in silent mode to active prosecution with airborne sensors, while the same combat system upgrades and data links expand interoperability inside NATO task groups.

The FREMM EVO order was placed under a contract amendment signed in July 2024, with the System Design Review completed in May 2025 as the first step of the definition phase, leading to the CDR by the end of that year. The contract value is estimated at around EUR 1.5 billion, and the ships are positioned as a core element of Italy’s broader fleet renewal plan, aimed at ensuring the Marina Militare can adapt rapidly to evolving maritime threats while safeguarding sea lines of communication and national strategic interests.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.