Significant progress is being made in the frigate program for the Hellenic Navy, as the shipyard infrastructure in Salamis has been upgraded for their construction.

Via a post on Twitter, Naval Group referred to the progress of the construction of the long-awaited FDI frigates for the Hellenic Navy and specifically of the part of the frigates manufactured in the now upgraded shipyards of Salamis.

[#NAVGREEK] ⚓️🇬🇷 A small glimpse from the island of Salamina where the work on the FDI blocks built by Salamis Shipyards has started, with the cutting of the first plates! The operation took place after a phase of shipyard infrastructure upgrade and production engineering. pic.twitter.com/SBQuyxsAJI

— Naval Group (@navalgroup) February 6, 2023

“A small glimpse from the island of Salamina where the work started on the FDI blocks built by Salamis Shipyards has started, with the cutting of the first plates! The operation took place after a phase of shipyard infrastructure upgrade and production engineering,” Naval Group’s post reads.

Since the award of the contract by Naval Group in October 2022, the necessary shipyard upgrades were made, such as the installation of a new overhead crane or the upgrade of the plate metal cutting machine, while the certification of welders is also taking place, Giorgos Koros, managing director of Salamis Shipyards, said, according to Naval Group.

Last week the first block engineering production review was successfully carried out with the Naval Group team and the cutting of the first plates, which were received from Lorient, immediately started, he underlined.

Furthermore, he concluded that their team works closely with a Naval Group engineer who is permanently based at their facility. The said engineer provides them with technical assistance to produce the FDI blocks while they are on schedule, and the collaboration with the Naval Group is very positive.

The blocks under construction will be ready to leave the yard for Lorient in November 2023. They will then join other blocks in the French shipyard to complete the ship.

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