Italian Navy deploys Marceglia FREMM frigate to the Indo-Pacific
Naval News
By Par Luca Peruzzi
31 January 2025
Italian Navy's Bergamini-class frigate Antonio Marceglia (F 597) (Credit: ITalian Navy)
The Italian Navy's Bergamini-class frigate ITS Antonio Marceglia (F-597) departed from La Spezia on January 20, 2025, en route to Indo-Pacific region to take part in exercises, exhibitions and visit regional countries.
The Italian Navy Antonio Marceglia (F 597) frigate belonging to Bergamini-class of FREMMs has left her homeport at La Spezia Naval Base on 20 January for an Operational ‘Projection’ Campaign in the Indo-Pacific area which will see the Italian vessel to visit in the incoming months at least twelve countries and participate to both multinational exercises and exhibitions.
“The Italian Navy Marceglia frigate will be engaged in an Indo-Pacific campaign and will follow what has already been done over the course of last two years, where our presence with the Navy has significantly increased precisely because the tensions that are measured in the Indo-Pacific characterize the current geopolitical context and we as Italy, despite the same region is not an integral part of what is defined as the ‘Enlarged Mediterranean’, – which is our area of priority interest -, we consider the Indo-Pacific an important and strategic area for us”, said the Undersecretary of State for Defence, Matteo Perego di Cremnago, responding to a media question on the sidelines of the ceremony where six new raider operators have been given the green beret, joining the Italian Navy Gruppo Operativo Incursori (GOI) Special Forces Unit belonging to the COMSUBIN command on 24 January at the presence of the Italian Minister of Defence, Guido Crosetto, the Defence Chief of Staff, general Luciano Portolano and the head of Italian Navy, admiral Enrico Credendino.
The campaign unveiling was followed by a short videoclip on Instagram by Marceglia account on 25 January, which will provide additional information through the campaign.
The frigate crew was greeted by the Italian Navy Fleet commander (CINCNAV), admiral Aurelio De Carolis before leaving for the campaign. According to the Italian Navy speaker and the campaign dedicated logo image, the Marceglia is expected to visit at least twelve countries in an unspecified timeframe, which Naval News understood to last around six months with a return expected for the first half of next July.
During the campaign, as anticipated, the Marceglia crew will be involved in training and operational events and exercises as well as naval diplomacy and international cooperation alongside the participation to exhibitions supporting the Italian diplomacy and industry.
ITS Antonio Marceglia (F 597) (Credit: Italian Navy)
The identified twelve countries to be visited include Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Qatar and Oman. Crossing the Africa Horn, the frigate is expected to reach Colombo in Sri Lanka, and then Indonesia.
Although no details or confirmation were provided, the Marceglia is expected here to participate to the 5th Multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo (MNEK) 2025 which will be held on February 14-22, at Benoa Harbor.
According to the list of flags on the campaign badge, the Italian ship will then visit Thailand and the Philippines, where Marceglia is expected to call in Manila. In April, the Italian frigate will visit Japan, and according to Naval News sources will participate to the Osaka Expo 2025 exhibition and visit Yokosuka naval base. The South Korea will be next destination to be followed by Singapore.
Naval News understood Marceglia will call for IMDEX exhibition (6-8 May) period and then according to the indicated plan, will reach Langkawi (Malaysia) to participate to LIMA exhibition (20-25 May).
Marceglia will then depart for India (expected Mumbai call) to be followed by Qatar (Doha call) and then Oman, before returning toward the Mediterranean basin. According to sources, the Italian frigate is expected to call a second time in Indonesia (Jakarta) before leaving the East Asia, and visit Jordan on the way back to Italy (Aqaba is the expected calling port).
During the six-month campaign, Marceglia frigate is expected – similarly to previous other campaigns – to be involved in training and operational events with the naval forces of the countries to be visited, with the potential interaction with the aircraft carrier and amphibious groups of US and France and temporarily-limited participation to the international missions and multinational forces alongside the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
The Marceglia is the eighth platform of the Bergamini class and the last of the four GP (General Purpose) frigates which main missions are anti-surface (ASuW) and anti-air (AAW) warfare, being equipped with the Leonardo 127/64 mm LW (LightWeight) gun capable to fire Vulcano long-range guided ammunitions and a 76/62 Super Rapido gun mount in the Davide/Stales configuration capable to fire DART guided ammunition against anti-ship missiles and asymmetric threats in addition to eight MBDA Teseo/Otomat Mk2/A anti-ship missiles and a two 8-cell naval Group A50 VLS for MBDA Aster 15 and 30 air defence missiles alongside two 25/80 mm small guns and launchers for both AAW and anti-torpedo decoys.
The GP frigate are equipped with the Thales bow-mounted sonar but not the CAPTAS 4 VDS, which station is used for a 11 metres RHIB used by special forces.