All posts by : Chiara

Italian boat builder Effebi is taking part in Seafuture 2025 at La Spezia Naval Base (29 September-2 October)
with its exhibition stand (A-07). Effebi specialises in the military sector and is renowned for its ability to combine
outstanding operational flexibility with its forty years’ experience in the construction of vessels up to 50 metres
in length.
“We chose to take part in Seafuture since its very first edition because we immediately recognised its strategic
value and importance as a venue for engagement with representatives of the Italian Navy and international
military delegations. Seafuture is a vital opportunity for highly specialised operators and the entire naval sector
to meet and exchange ideas. Over the last few years, we have delivered vessels having very different features
and serving multiple purposes, which testifies to the versatility of the entire Effebi team and the outstanding
quality of their work” – Effebi’s Managing Director, Katia Balducci.
Effebi confirms to be a reference operator for institutional clients like the Italian Tax Police, the Guardia di
Finanza, with whom a solid partnership was developed and strengthened in recent years. Effebi’s vessels stand
out for their strong focus on eco-sustainability, operational functionality, crew comfort, and safety.
Since 2020, Effebi has built and delivered prototypes in the following lines:
44-metre Coastal Patrol Vessel
Delivered in June 2021, the ‘Tenente Petrucci’ is one of the most advanced units currently used by the Guardia
di Finanza. Effebi’s prototype combined advanced military solutions, safety, and maximum comfort for the
crew, underscoring Effebi’s excellence at both design and construction. This contract was secured through a
tender launched by the Guardia di Finanza and co-funded by the EU as part of the Internal Security Fund
(FRONTEX).
16.5-metre class V 8000 high-speed patrol boat
This super-fast, innovative unit can safely reach a speed of 68 knots. Designed for military use, including pursuit
and boarding operations to counter illegal trafficking, it can boast excellent manoeuvrability. The Guardia di
Finanza recently signed an additional contract for the delivery of 11 more units.
Patrol boats for internal waters – 8.5-metre VAI 300 class for Venice and marine protected areas
Conceived to navigate in environmentally sensitive lagoon areas, these units combine limited size, excellent
manoeuvrability, and noiseless hybrid propulsion, ideal for delicate ecosystems subject to specific requirements.
After testing the prototype, in 2022 the Guardia di Finanza signed an additional contract for a further 20 units. To
date, 13 patrol boats have been delivered, with order completion scheduled for 2026.
22-metre Fast Patrol Vessel for the Police Maritime of the Principality of Monaco.
A unit specifically developed for the Police Maritime of Monaco was delivered in 2021. In addition to standard
patrol operations, this unit can also conduct complex rescue operations thanks to a powerful firefighting
system and a platform that can be lowered down to sea level. In this case too, Effebi proved its ability to
adapt to international operational contexts and meet the specific needs of institutional clients.

Established in 1983 by the Balducci family, who keep running the business to this day, Effebi is now an
international benchmark in the processing of fibreglass and composite materials. The Company operates in the
commercial and military sectors under the Effebi brand and in recreational boating with the Mangusta,
Mangusta GranSport, and Mangusta Oceano brands.
Effebi can rely on three shipyards based in Tuscany – in Massarosa, Massa and Carrara-Avenza -, totalling an
operating area of more than 72,500 sq.m. All processes, from design to lamination, all the way to the final
assembly, are carried out in-house – an approach which guarantees a high level of specialisation, the strictest
quality control, and unparalleled construction consistency, in full compliance with ISO 9001:2015 (quality) and
ISO 14001:2015 (environment) certifications.
“Effebi is a family business built on strong foundations and a strategic vision for the future. Our most distinctive
quality is the ability to treat each project as unique, developing customised solutions that perfectly meet our
clients’ needs. Painstaking care for detail, design flexibility, and a high level of specialisation are the pillars on
which we’ve always built our value” – Effebi’s Managing Director Katia Balducci
Effebi is recognised and certified by the leading international registers of shipping (RINA, Lloyd’s Register,
Bureau Veritas, ABS) and keeps investing in research and innovation, with a special focus on sustainability and
safety.

ELT Group, which has been engaged in electronic warfare and defence for over 70 years across the land, sea, air, space, cyber and bio-defence domains, embraces new scenarios—such as the convergence of the Defence and Cyber worlds—and the complex challenges of the present, turning them into tangible opportunities to build a safer, more stable and sustainable world, also through strategic partnerships with highly qualified organisations. At Seafuture, your company will focus particularly on these issues in relation to artificial intelligence, with speakers of great significance. What are the concrete scenarios for the future applications and strategies of artificial intelligence, and what will be the key points under discussion?

For over seventy years, ELT Group has been a leading player in the field of Electronic Warfare (EW), operating across all strategic domains: land, sea, air, cyber, more recently, space and bio-defence. Today we face an increasingly complex international context, where the boundaries between conventional and cyber threats are becoming ever more blurred. It is therefore essential to be able to turn these challenges into opportunities in order to gain a competitive advantage.

It is precisely with this mindset that ELT Group embraces the convergence between electronic defence and cyber security, investing in advanced, sustainable and integrated solutions, including applications for so-called unmanned systems. Our strength lies in our ability to provide multi-domain solutions, enabled by electromagnetic spectrum management, which the company has now enhanced with cyber expertise.

In a world undergoing rapid transformation, marked by the growing complexity of threats, only a multidisciplinary, integrated and cooperative approach can ensure security and stability. Military operations are increasingly shifting towards the System of Systems, a super-system enabled by the interconnectivity, integration and cooperation of all available assets in the operational theatre. This requires the dynamic management of enormous volumes of data, the processing and constant updating of situation awareness in real time, and the coordination of rapid, integrated responses between complex systems and sensors distributed across both manned and unmanned platforms.

For ELT Group, this transformation is not limited to the introduction of cutting-edge technologies; it also opens up complex and stimulating scenarios involving strategy, interdisciplinary collaboration and forward-looking vision. We regard artificial intelligence (AI) as an indispensable resource. At a time when information superiority, real-time decision-making and data security are increasingly critical factors, AI is emerging as a key enabler in supporting new operational paradigms.

From strategic considerations to practical case studies, the conference organised by ELT Group within the framework of SEAFUTURE aims to examine how AI is reshaping the Defence Industry–Public Administration ecosystem with a holistic vision, bringing together experts from the industrial, institutional and academic sectors to explore its enabling role in the digital transformation process and to foster a concrete dialogue on the opportunities and challenges of adopting AI in the Defence & Security domain.

For your company, the essence of innovation lies in shaping technologies and global protection. Innovation is at the core of our daily work. Each year, the company invests around €50 million in R&D, through both funded projects and self-financing. Our goal is to ensure that ELT Group’s engineering expertise can anticipate emerging threats and continue to generate increasingly innovative and sustainable solutions for the protection of people, assets and data. Shaping Technologies, Global Protection is our corporate claim, encapsulating this ambition.

Our commitment to innovation has enabled us to evolve beyond being solely a company specialised in Electronic Defence, becoming instead a global player that integrates diversified expertise and operates worldwide through commercial networks and foreign subsidiaries. It has allowed us not only to constantly enhance traditional technological solutions in the field of Electronic Warfare, but also to extend them into other domains such as cyber, underwater and space. It has also enabled us to look towards new markets, such as bio-defence.

For your company, “To evolve means to embrace challenges”. Which challenges are we referring to, and what role can ELT Group play in the near future for people and nations in terms of security and defence?

The ability to evolve, to innovate and to keep pace with the times is embedded in our company’s DNA. For a high-technology enterprise, the capacity to understand new developments in the field of security and to adapt to them—or even anticipate them—is of vital importance, as it ensures competitiveness in a rapidly changing market. Without innovation, a company risks becoming obsolete and missing opportunities for growth and success, whereas investment in this area creates the conditions for cutting-edge solutions. Ultimately, it is a key factor for success, fostering innovation across all fields: technology, management and generational renewal.

ELT Group has distinguished itself among major companies thanks to its specialisation in niche areas combined with continuous technological innovation. Today, in a context dominated by the multi-domain approach, our seventy years of experience in managing the electromagnetic spectrum allow us to remain highly competitive. Over the years, we have operated across all the traditional defence domains—air, naval and land—to which we later added cyber and space. Today, particularly in the new scenarios of conflict, we have seen how cyber and space defence have become central to gaining operational advantage. The centrality of these emerging domains has, in turn, brought back into focus the strategic role of the electromagnetic spectrum, which more broadly acts as a unifying element, enabling synergy across military operations in all domains: air, land, naval, space, cyber and underwater.

For you, being a sustainable company means “taking part in the collective effort to grow through innovation”. How so?

ELT Group’s capacity for innovation is founded on the knowledge and expertise it has acquired in managing the electromagnetic spectrum, enabling the development of non-conventional technological solutions for the Defence and Security of people, assets and data.

ELT Group’s innovation and systems are conceived and developed to address current challenges while being ready to manage future scenarios, not only in operational security contexts but also in the protection of critical infrastructure and, today, in the field of bio-defence.

This intensive activity has led to the creation of sovereign strategic technologies, which are more relevant than ever. Within the company, the process of idea development and maturation follows the Design Thinking model, a multidisciplinary approach that makes it possible to identify and design solutions and suggest practices that foster innovation, improving products, the quality of processes, their efficiency and their impacts.

This strong orientation towards innovation is driven by the company’s internal research and development activities, while at the same time being a broader, shared process extended to national and international partners, thereby creating an innovation ecosystem from which the company can benefit.