Portugal buys three Italian FREMM EVO frigates in €3.9 billion SAFE deal to modernize Atlantic operations by 2030.

Portugal signed a €3.9 billion state-to-state agreement with Italy on July 20, 2026, to acquire three Fincantieri FREMM EVO multi-mission frigates for the Portuguese Navy. The procurement commits 67.2% of Portugal’s €5.8 billion allocation under the European Union’s SAFE financing instrument to replace aging surface combatants. Managed through OCCAR, the contract guarantees ship deliveries between 2029 and 2030 to satisfy SAFE execution windows while expanding national anti-submarine and air defence capabilities.

The €3.9 billion procurement covers three 144-meter FREMM EVO frigates, long-term sustainment, technology transfer, and infrastructure upgrades at Arsenal do Alfeite to support a 30-year operational lifecycle. Each 6,500-tonne vessel features CODLAG propulsion, dual-band X/C AESA radars, multi-layer sonar arrays, and vertical launch systems to replace older Vasco da Gama and Bartolomeu Dias-class ships by 2030.

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Operationally, the three FREMM EVO frigates will improve Portugal's ability to monitor submarine cables, offshore energy installations, maritime approaches, and sea lines connecting Europe with North America and West Africa (Picture source: OCCAR)

On July 20, 2026, Portugal signed a €3.9 billion government-to-government agreement with Italy for three FREMM EVO multi-mission frigates from Fincantieri, committing 67.2% of its €5.8 billion allocation under the European Union's SAFE financing instrument to this single naval program. Deliveries are scheduled for 2029 and 2030, giving less than four years to complete contract execution, ship construction, crew preparation, shore adaptation and initial logistics before the SAFE implementation window closes. The acquisition package covers construction, long-term sustainment, logistical support, technology transfer, industrial cooperation and the conditions required to operate the ships for at least 30 years.

On a simple programme-value basis, the package equals €1.3 billion per frigate, including infrastructure, training, spares, support equipment and lifecycle services alongside the cost of each hull. The ships will replace part of a five-frigate force whose vessels were designed more than three decades ago, while parallel investment at Arsenal do Alfeite is intended to create a national maintenance base capable of supporting the new class through the 2050s and into the 2060s. The agreement was concluded in Rome during a meeting between Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, with Portuguese Defence Minister Nuno Melo and Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto participating in the defence component.

Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel also joined the Portuguese delegation during what was the first visit to Italy by a Portuguese prime minister in 12 years. The procurement is structured as a state-to-state arrangement rather than a stand-alone commercial shipbuilding order, which gives the two governments a direct role in delivery schedules, industrial participation and support obligations. Fincantieri's ability to provide all three ships by the end of 2030 was a major selection factor because Portugal needed a European-built frigate that could be contracted, produced and accepted within SAFE timelines. The Italian offer prevailed over Naval Group's FDI proposal, while Navantia's F-110 had also been considered earlier. 

The FREMM EVO is a 144-metre ocean-going frigate with a beam of 19.7 metres and a displacement between 6,500 and 6,700 tonnes, depending on final loading and the Portuguese combat configuration. Its maximum speed exceeds 27 knots, equivalent to more than 50 km/h, while its range reaches 6,000 nautical miles, or 11,100 km, at an economical speed of 15 knots. Endurance reaches 45 days, giving the ship sufficient fuel, provisions and accommodation for extended Atlantic deployments without depending on frequent port calls. The propulsion arrangement is CODLAG, combining a gas turbine with electric motors, and the Italian FREMM baseline uses a 32 MW General Electric LM2500+ gas turbine.

During anti-submarine operations, electric propulsion reduces machinery noise transmitted through the hull and into the water, lowering the probability that a submarine will detect the frigate before the frigate's own sonars establish contact. This is operationally important for Portugal because the North Atlantic is not a confined coastal environment: submarine search areas are large, acoustic conditions vary with depth and temperature, and a frigate may need to remain on station for days while coordinating with maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters and allied submarines. The FREMM EVO's sensor fit combines air surveillance, missile detection, surface tracking, submarine search and counter-drone functions in a single combat system.

Fixed-face AESA radar arrays operate in X-band and C-band, with C-band supporting broad-volume surveillance and X-band providing higher-resolution tracking and discrimination of smaller contacts. This dual-band architecture allows the ship to maintain surveillance against aircraft and surface vessels while also tracking low-altitude cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft and more complex missile trajectories. A dedicated anti-drone radar and counter-UAS suite are included because small unmanned aircraft can fly below conventional radar coverage, move at low speed and present a much smaller radar cross-section than a combat aircraft or anti-ship missile. Below the surface, the frigate combines a hull-mounted sonar, variable-depth sonar and towed-array sonar.

The variable-depth sonar can be lowered beneath thermal layers that bend or block acoustic energy, while the towed array provides passive detection behind the ship with less interference from the frigate's own machinery. The result is a three-layer acoustic search capability rather than dependence on a single bow sonar, improving the ship's ability to detect submarines operating at different depths and speeds. Portugal has not yet specified the final missile types, launcher capacity or ammunition quantities for its three ships, and those decisions will determine the practical depth of the frigates' air defence and surface strike capability. The baseline weapons fit includes vertical launch cells for surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, lightweight anti-submarine torpedoes, two 76 mm naval guns and two remotely operated 30 mm weapon stations.

The number of vertical launch cells will affect how many simultaneous air threats a frigate can engage and how quickly its missile inventory would be exhausted during sustained operations. The two 76 mm guns provide overlapping firing arcs and can use programmable ammunition against aircraft, missiles, small craft and unmanned systems, allowing the ship to reserve more expensive interceptors for threats that cannot be defeated by gunfire. The two 30 mm stations cover the close defensive zone against fast boats, loitering munitions and uncrewed surface craft. Lightweight torpedoes can be launched directly from the ship or carried by helicopter, allowing the Italian frigate to attack a submarine beyond the range of its own torpedo tubes.

The electronic warfare system supplements these weapons by detecting hostile radar and communications emissions, warning the combat system of missile targeting, supporting jamming and activating decoys to break an incoming missile's guidance sequence. The flight deck and two enclosed hangars are large enough to support NH90 NFH or EH101 Merlin helicopters, giving the frigate more aviation capacity than Portugal's current ships. In anti-submarine warfare, a helicopter can deploy dipping sonar, sonobuoys and lightweight torpedoes tens of kilometres from the ship, multiplying the area covered by the frigate and its sonars. The same helicopter can conduct maritime surveillance, over-the-horizon identification, search-and-rescue, medical evacuation, personnel transport and special operations support.

The ship is also configured to work with unmanned aerial, surface and underwater vehicles, allowing it to investigate suspected submarine contacts, inspect port approaches, survey seabed infrastructure or approach mine and missile threats without exposing the frigate itself. The standard complement is 145 personnel, with accommodation for 179, leaving 34 additional berths for a naval headquarters, marines, intelligence teams, unmanned system operators or humanitarian personnel. That reserve is operationally relevant because Portugal regularly assigns frigates to NATO groups where a ship may need to embark a force commander and staff while still retaining its normal functions. The acquisition also addresses the declining modernization margin of Portugal's existing frigates.

The Portuguese Navy operates three Vasco da Gama-class (NRP Vasco da Gama, NRP Álvares Cabral and NRP Corte-Real) commissioned between 1991 and 1992, together with two Bartolomeu Dias-class (NRP Bartolomeu Dias and NRP D. Francisco de Almeida), which entered Portuguese service in 2009 and 2010 after earlier service with the Royal Netherlands Navy. Their transfer dates conceal the actual age of the two Dutch-built hulls, which also originated in the 1990s. The problem is not limited to hull fatigue or propulsion wear. Older frigates have less electrical power for AESA radars, less cooling capacity for modern electronics, less internal volume for unmanned systems and headquarters staff, and greater difficulty integrating new processors, weapons and data links into wiring and combat systems installed decades earlier.

Portugal has not identified which three ships will be withdrawn first, as the three FREMM EVOs will not replace all five current frigates. Lisbon will therefore face a later force-structure decision: either acquire additional ships, retain two older frigates for a transitional period, or accept a reduction from five frigates to three. A three-ship force would also make maintenance cycles more restrictive, because one ship in deep maintenance and one in training could leave only one frigate immediately available for operations. Therefore, the industrial package is intended to reduce Portugal's dependence on Italian yards after delivery, but its value will depend on the depth of the work transferred to Portuguese companies.

Arsenal do Alfeite is expected to receive equipment, infrastructure and workforce training linked to the new frigates, with earlier estimates placing the required investment between €150 million and €200 million. This corresponds to 3.8 to 5.1% of the total €3.9 billion programme and indicates that the shore component is a material part of the acquisition. Portuguese companies are expected to participate in logistics, maintenance, supply chain activity, engineering support and workforce development over a service life exceeding 30 years. The decisive questions will be whether Portugal receives access to engineering data, combat system software, source code interfaces, maintenance manuals and test equipment, and whether Arsenal do Alfeite can independently conduct structural repairs, propulsion overhaul, radar replacement and future weapon integration.

Operationally, the three frigates will increase Portuguese capacity in anti-submarine warfare, maritime air defence, surface warfare, electronic warfare, counter-drone operations and multinational command-and-control. Their range and endurance also support surveillance of submarine cables, offshore energy installations, Atlantic sea lines and the maritime approaches to mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores. Together with SAFE-funded investments in land systems, ammunition, drones and satellites, the frigates will form the naval component of a modernization programme that will shape Portugal's force structure well beyond 2030.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.

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