The Italian Navy has taken delivery of its seventh Thaon di Revel-class multipurpose offshore patrol vessel from Fincantieri as part of a contract signed in 2019.
The handover for the Domenico Millelire (P436) was conducted at the company’s shipyard in Muggiano and saw attendance from military officials as well as industry partner representatives.
Rome launched the platform in 2024 as part of a broader effort, also called the Pattugliatore Polivalente d’Altura (PPA), to replace the service’s older fleets of Minerva-class and Lupo-class surface combatants inducted in the 1970s.
“The PPA is a highly flexible ship with the capacity to serve multiple functions, ranging from patrol with sea rescue capacity to Civil Protection operations and, in its most highly equipped version, first line fighting vessel, also thanks to different configurations of combat system,” Fincantieri stated during the Muggiano ceremony.
Expanding Fleet
The NATO country introduced the Thaon di Revel initiative in 2014 with support from the European defense consortium Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation.
In 2025, Italy placed an order for two additional vessels to replace the fifth and sixth ships in the series that were delivered to the Indonesian Navy under a cooperative agreement.
The Thaon di Revel System
The Italian Navy’s Thaon di Revel platform is built with a 143-meter (469-foot) hull and a 17-meter (56-foot) beam.
It carries over 170 personnel, two helicopters similar to the NH90, and rigid-hull inflatable boats.
The vessel is armed with anti-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, lightweight torpedoes, a 126mm rapid-fire gun, a 76mm anti-aircraft autocannon, and 25mm remote cannons.
Its operations are backed by an advanced combat system, electronic warfare suite, electro-optical/infrared sensors, diving support sonars, anti-submarine systems, satellite communication links, long-range acoustic system, and decoy launchers.
The Thaon di Revel sails with a 43,000-horsepower GE Aerospace/Avio Aero LM2500+G4 gas turbine, two 13,000-horsepower MTU 20V 8000 M91L diesel engines, two 1,810-horsepower electric motors, twin-engine emergency generators, a 740-horsepower thruster, and two controllable-pitch propellers.
That propulsion setup allows the ship to sail at up to 32 knots (59 kilometers/37 miles per hour) and cover a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,260 kilometers/5,754 miles).
