France,
Italy, and the
UK issued a joint requirement in 1992 after the failure of the
NATO Frigate Replacement for the 90s (NFR-90) project. In July 1993, the three countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a Common New Generation Frigate (CNGF). The ships were to be armed with the
Principal Anti Air Missile System (PAAMS). The UK intended to purchase twelve ships to replace its
Type 42 destroyers. France was to purchase four to replace its , and Italy would purchase six to replace its and ships. Problems emerged almost immediately. The primary problem was that of differing requirements: France wanted
anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) escorts for its
aircraft carriers, but only a limited range was necessary due to the self-defence capability of the French . Italy too required only close-range capabilities, as in its home waters of the
Mediterranean Sea the ships would operate under
Italian Air Force cover or escorts for its aircraft carrier . The
Royal Navy, however, required more capable ships which could throw a large defensive "bubble" over a fleet operating in hostile areas. The compromise that largely solved this problem was the adoption of a standard radar interface, which allowed France and Italy to install the
EMPAR multi-function
passive electronically scanned array radar and the UK to install the more capable
SAMPSON active electronically scanned array radar—the SAMPSON radar has a higher data rate and an adaptive beam that allows a greater ability to track multiple targets, long-range detection of low-RCS targets, a lower false-alarm rate, and overall higher tracking accuracy. In March 1996, it was agreed that the PAAMS office would be based in Paris, and the Project Horizon project office would be based in London. The latter was to be responsible for the design of the ship, its command and control, and secondary weapons systems. Britain also agreed to contribute £100m in recognition of the development work already completed by Italy and France on PAAMS. The
Financial Times summarised the main disagreements between the partner countries: • Vessel size – As noted above, the UK's requirements were out of step with those of France and Italy. An agreement was reached but the Financial Times reported that the issue "never entirely [went] away." • Capability – The UK wanted the ships with a wide-area defence capability due to its experience in the Falklands War. • Industrial structure – The UK tried to use its larger requirement to exert influence; the UK's desire to see Marconi appointed as prime contractor was accepted by France, but only in return for DCN being given the role as prime contractor for the combat management system. The UK, which wished to see a
British Aerospace-led consortium given this role, would not accept this. The resulting
Type 45 destroyer is armed with the
PAAMS missile system and has benefited from investment in the Horizon project.
Franco-Italian project France and Italy continued their collaboration under the Horizon project. In September 2000, the two countries signed a contract to jointly produce four ships, ordering two ships each which would deploy the PAAMS missile system. The
Italian Navy ordered two units, and , to replace the
Audace class.
Andrea Doria was accepted on 22 December 2007 and received the flag of the Italian Navy. Full operation capability was achieved in the summer of 2008. The
French Navy ordered two units, and , to replace the
Suffren-class carrier escorts. The project cost France €2.16bn (~US$3bn) at 2009 prices. A further two Horizons were cancelled; instead, the two s were to be replaced by the FREDA air-defence variant of the Franco-Italian
FREMM multipurpose frigate (later known as and ). France bought 40
Aster 15 and 80
Aster 30 missiles for their ships. == Ships ==