Navantia, Fincantieri Sign Heads of Agreement for a 50/50 Euro Patrol Corvette Joint Venture — With Naval Group, the Yards Sign the EPC2 Design Consortium
Paris, 5 November 2026
Key points
- At Euronaval in Paris, Navantia and Fincantieri signed heads of agreement for an incorporated joint venture covering their national European Patrol Corvette (EPC) programmes and related export opportunities; each will hold 50 per cent
- The joint venture is to take overall responsibility for the programmes' development and act as the contracting entity, covering design coordination, common procurement, co-production, lifecycle support and exports; the definitive joint-venture documents are still to be negotiated
- The two companies say Naval Group "is considering joining", which would bring its national EPC programme within the venture's scope
- Separately, Fincantieri, Navantia and Naval Group signed the consortium agreement for EPC2, the phase that completes preliminary and detailed design of the common Full Combat Multipurpose platform, with representatives of OCCAR present
Two of the three shipbuilders in the European Patrol Corvette's EPC2 design phase have agreed the outline of the company that would sign its contracts; the third has signed the next design phase with them but not the company.
The heads of agreement records the principal understandings and frames the negotiation of definitive documents. It follows the memorandum of understanding the two firms signed on 13 February and announced on 26 February. The companies say the venture is to be a fully functioning business with its own resources "rather than a mere coordination office". The programme has run since 2019 under the EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation framework, coordinated by OCCAR since 2022 and supported by the European Defence Fund. EPC1 covered concept studies and preliminary design; EPC2 is to take the design towards production, with a modular platform that each navy tailors to its needs.
The design is common to three yards; the contracting company, so far, to two. In EPC2 Naval Group is a full signatory to the design work. In the joint venture, whose heads of agreement Signal No. 183 recorded and which is meant to hold the contracts and promote commonality across the ships, it is a prospective member. Until it joins, a French order for EPC hulls would be placed outside the venture, and keeping a French ship common with the Spanish and Italian ones would be a matter between two companies rather than inside one.
Related · The European Patrol Corvette
