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Doha, Qatar / Trieste, Italy, 9 December 2025 – Fincantieri today convened government, defense, and industry leaders in Doha for the high-level workshop “Underwater Innovation Forefront: Submarines, Drones and Dual-Use Integrated Solutions for Sea Defence and Strategic Infrastructures Resilience”. The event reaffirms Fincantieri’s longstanding commitment to supporting Qatar’s maritime security and enhancing the resilience of its critical offshore and subsea infrastructure.

This landmark initiative marks a significant advancement in the strategic industrial cooperation between Fincantieri and Milaha, the Qatar Navigation Q.P.S.C. (“Milaha”), leading provider of maritime and logistics solutions in the region, with which the event was organized in collaboration. This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at broadening cooperation in maritime services, project execution, and technological integration.

Building on a well-established partnership with the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces — which includes the delivery of seven advanced naval vessels built in the Group’s yards in Italy — the initiative reflects Fincantieri’s ability to translate industrial cooperation into concrete capability development in support of Qatar’s sovereign maritime ambitions.

Today’s workshop gathered senior leaders and decision-makers from Qatar’s defense, energy, telecommunication, cybersecurity, maritime, and governmental sectors, together with international stakeholders, including the Italian Ambassador to Doha Paolo Toschi, the Italian Navy and Italy's National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN). It provided a high-level platform to assess the evolving underwater risk and development opportunities landscape and foster cooperative strategies.

Discussions were led by Fincantieri’s experts Admiral Matteo Bisceglia, Senior Vice President Naval Product Development and Partnering, Gabriele Maria Cafaro, Executive Vice President Underwater, Dario Giacomin, Senior Vice President Underwater Product Development, and Eugenio Santagata, General Manager Naval Vessels Division, together with Fahad Saad Al-Qahtani, Milaha Group CEO, Ambassador Massimo Marotti, Managing Director for Strategy & International Cooperation of the Italian National Cybersecurity Agency, and Rear Admiral Francesco Milazzo, Commander of the Submarines & Underwater Dimension Department of the Italian Navy. They focused on operational expertise and emerging technologies across the full underwater spectrum — including submarines, unmanned and autonomous systems (AUVs/USVs), underwater drones and ROVs, integrated command-and-control architectures, and dual-use solutions — and on how these capabilities are becoming essential to reinforce national security and ensure the reliability of offshore energy assets, port operations, and other strategic installations.

The workshop underscored that 98% of global internet traffic depends on subsea cables, together with power interconnectors that form the backbone of every nation’s connectivity and energy security. In this scenario, Fincantieri reaffirmed its role as an “orchestrator” of the underwater domain: a vertically integrated player capable of designing, building, and operating all the key components of a new underwater ecosystem. This positioning enables the company to bridge defense requirements with civil and dual‑use applications.

Among the flagship technologies showcased was DEEP, Fincantieri’s proprietary and fully integrated underwater drone system with AI-powered capabilities, recently validated in a live operational demonstration at the Naval Support and Experimentation Centre (CSSN) in La Spezia, a unique technology in Europe. DEEP integrates advanced AUVs swarms, early-warning sensors, LARS solutions, and a dedicated underwater management system to ensure persistent monitoring and timely threat detection in complex maritime environments, as well as maintenance and development.

Rear Admiral Francesco Milazzo of the Italian Navy emphasized that the underwater domain is now a decisive arena requiring continuous innovation and synergies. Securing this dimension is vital to safeguard energy and information flows that sustain prosperity and security. In this context, cooperation between navies, institutions, and industry is key to technological progress and operational superiority. In this regard, Italy is at the forefront combining advanced expertise with a vision of interoperability and dual-use solutions, developing a modern command-and-control architecture and multipurpose, multi-mission vehicles capable of operating from seabed to surface for defense and infrastructure resilience. He also highlighted the key role played by the Italian National Hub for Underwater (PNS - Polo Nazionale della Subacquea), established by the Italian Government in 2023 in La Spezia, as well as the Italian Navy’s initiative to create a NATO Center of Excellence for the Underwater Domain, also in La Spezia, within the same premises as the PNS.

Ambassador Massimo Marotti of the Italian National Cybersecurity Agency also highlighted the critical role of international cooperation and the partnership between governments and private players in addressing cyber risks that threaten underwater infrastructures.

Fincantieri’s positioning builds on its long-lasting expertise in designing and building advanced submarines, paving the way for a fully integrated underwater technological ecosystem. It is also further strengthened by key competences brought by WASS, Remazel Engineering, and IDS — and joint development activities with SME’s having cutting-edge technology content.

This consolidated heritage underpins a growth trajectory where Fincantieri’s solutions are already delivering tangible, deployable responses to the evolving requirements of modern maritime nations, such as Qatar.