Rivalta di Torino (Italy), 03 March 2016 – The propulsion technology offered by Avio Aero, a GE Aviation business in Italy, has been chosen to power seven Pattugliatori Polivalenti d’Altura (PPA) multi-purpose offshore patrol ships to be added to Italy’s naval fleet. The first LM2500+G4 gas turbine system made by GE Marine will be delivered in 2017, and the agreement foresees a further 6 turbines by 2022. Avio Aero is responsible for designing the turbine's control system, its auxiliary systems and the entire "package" of the propulsion system, as well as the production of important components and the maintenance and revision of the turbine systems.
This commission continues a long tradition of collaboration between Avio Aero and the Italian Navy, beginning from 1977, when Italy’s Naval command and the Fincantieri ship-building group adopted the LM2500 gas turbines for the first time, for the frigate classes Lupo, Maestrale and Artigliere, for the De la Penne destroyer class, the short-deck aircraft carrier Garibaldi and the Andrea Doria destroyer class, as well as the aircraft carrier Cavour. More recently, the Italian-French FREMM programme adopted the more powerful and innovative LM2500+G4 turbine, the same system chosen now for the PPA ships.
The standardization of the logistical system with other major vessels of the Italian Navy, along with the proven reliability of the GE class LM turbines, will undoubtedly lead to reductions in Naval spending on organization and support for its fleet.
“This result makes us proud, because it testifies once again to our role as a strategic partner to the Italian Ministry of Defence – declared Riccardo Procacci, President and CEO of Avio Aero. Ours is a technological leadership which, from 2005 until today, has seen GE Marine’s LM2500 turbines conquer 30 new naval supply programs, with 1,300 engines operating all over the world and over 13 million hours of service accumulated. In addition, we offer our international logistical supply chain – based on the synergies between GE’s different industrial plants – which represents a major resource for the independence and autonomy of the Italian Navy, which can thus benefit from cost efficiencies throughout the life cycle of its products.”
At its manufacturing site in Brindisi, with roughly 700 employees, Avio Aero produces up to 20% of the components for the LM2500 engine, the GE gas turbine used by 34 international navies and in countless marine and industrial applications. The facility in Puglia has also been chosen as GE’s Centre of Excellence for the overhaul and repair of GE’s LM2500 family of gas turbines and the LM6000 gas turbine, offering customer support for both marine and industrial engines to clients worldwide. Outside of the United States, the Brindisi facility is currently the largest overhaul centre in the world for these turbines.
INFORMATION on Avio Aero
Avio Aero is a GE Aviation business which operates in the design, manufacture and maintenance of civil and military aeronautics components and systems. It is a Centre of Excellence for the entire General Electric Group in the field of mechanical transmission systems and low pressure turbine systems. It has over 4,000 employees in Italy, spread between the main site in Rivalta di Torino, which is also home to its largest productive plant, and the important facilities in Brindisi and Pomigliano d’Arco (Naples). It also has a major plant in Poland. Since 1908 – so for over a century now – the company has led the way in numerous technological challenges. Through continuous ongoing investments in research and development, and thanks to a consolidated network of contacts and relations with major international universities and research centres, Avio Aero has developed a technological and manufacturing degree of excellence which is acknowledged all over the world: an achievement confirmed by the partnerships signed with the main global actors in the aeronautical sector.