Italy and Greece have signed an agreement to transfer two Italian Navy (ITN) FREMM frigates to the Hellenic Navy (HN).
This final agreement – signed at a meeting in Rome, by each country’s defence armaments directorates – follows a preliminary accord drawn up in September 2025. Also present at the signing ceremony were the two countries’ defence ministers and chiefs of navy.
The agreement covers the first two ships in the ITN’s Bergamini class – lead ship ITS Carlo Bergamini, and second-in-class vessel ITS Virginio Fasan. Both general-purpose frigates are in ITN operational service.
The agreement includes unit transfer plans, plus the initial and ongoing support activities required to enable and sustain the ships’ operational readiness. Italian company Fincantieri, the original shipbuilder, will support both the transfer process and life-cycle availability activities. At the same time, Greek industry will maintain the ships and upgrade their systems, Fincantieri said in a statement.
In the statement, Pierroberto Folgiero – Fincantieri’s chief executive officer and general manager – noted that the transfer is a first step within broader integration of expertise, technology, and industrial capability between the two countries, building knowledge sharing plus opportunities for further technological developments.
In this context, the agreement is intended to be part of wider efforts to strengthen partnering between the two countries and their respective navies.
From the ITN’s perspective, the two ships are its two oldest FREMM frigates, both entering service in 2013.
Italy also sold two FREMMs to Egypt in 2020-21, before the ships were delivered to the ITN.
The ITN’s FREMM flotilla includes a mix of general-purpose, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) specialist, and anti-air warfare (AAW) focused frigates. The navy has been steadily evolving the class with improved capabilities. The two ships sold to Egypt were general-purpose platforms; they were replaced with ships bringing a mixed general-purpose/ASW configuration and thus referred to as ‘ASW-enhanced’ vessels. Subsequently, another evolution – introducing improved radar and known as the ‘FREMM Evo’ ships – has been developed. In December 2025, the navy announced that its next-generation destroyers would be based around the ‘FREMM Evo’ design. As the FREMM class has evolved in task focus and technology, sales of general-purpose variants have allowed the navy to enhance its capability.
For the HN, the initial FREMM agreement included the option for Greece to buy two additional ITN frigates. Alongside modernising its four MEKO 200HN Hydra-class frigates through a mid-life upgrade (MLU) and purchasing four French FDI (Frégate de Defense et d’Intervention) frigates as its Kimon/Belharra class, the FREMM developments have helped deliver a recapitalisation of the navy’s surface force structure.
The MEKO MLU activity is intended to extend the vessels’ service life into the 2030s: a contract for this work was awarded to Thales in May 2026.
Greece contracted its fourth FDI in November 2025, and the first was delivered in December 2025.
by Dr Lee Willett
