The French ship builder DCNS presented today the [email protected] frigate design – a new heavily-armed frigate made for the international market. The new design was unveiled today at the Euronaval Exhibition in Paris-Le Bourget. The new [email protected] class renews the heavily-armed 4,000-tonne frigate segment. It follows the company’s La Fayette-class frigates, of which over twenty units were built and are operational with four navies around the world.
The [email protected] design is positioned between the 6,000-tonne FREMM multi-mission frigate segment and that of the 2,500- to 3,000-tonne GOWIND corvettes, addressing navies looking for a compact frigate, capable of ensuring long-range missions, operating alone or embedded in a naval force, on the high seas or as part of coastal surveillance missions in a dense and hostile environment.
DCNS already offers a French-Navy version of the new class of frigate, known as the Frigate – Intermediate-Size frigate (Frégates de Taille Intermédiaire – FTI), a development program conducted by the French Procurement Agency (DGA) on behalf of the French Navy. For the French-Navy version, the [email protected] frigate is designed to meet specific requirements to be a front-line frigate for anti-submarine warfare of a displacement of 4,000 tonnes. The frigate will be equipped with the Thales Sea Fire radar and Aster 30 missiles to offer area self-defense. It will also support commando operations.
According to DCNS, [email protected] offers a modular design, robustness and simplified use, along with a high degree of ‘operational intelligence’. The company based its design on significant operational experience gathered in various naval theaters, with the FREMM multi-mission frigate, DCNS’s latest frigate. It also relies on the architecture and versatility of DCNS’s SETIS combat-management system, proven on the FREMM frigates and GOWIND corvettes. The ship design and command system address mission compatibility with platform modularity, to increase the vessel payload or autonomy. Among the missions to be addressed by [email protected] are submarine, and anti-air warfare, along with surface attack capabilities. Additionally, new capabilities are responding to new threats such as asymmetric warfare or cyber-defense.
Resolutely oriented towards future operators in command of vessels beyond 2020, the [email protected] frigate benefits from digital technologies. Among the ‘digital advantages’ offered by the new frigate are greater performance for data processing and threat detection whilst at the same time allowing the crew to concentrate on tasks with the most added value. The digital architecture also enables the vessel to be upgraded throughout its life-cycle, supporting incremental modernization of equipment, infrastructure and system, to adapt to evolving operational conditions, future threats and the arrival of new capabilities.
The French ship designer DCNS unveiled at Euronaval the [email protected], the new front-line digital frigate dedicated to the international market. DCNS also develops a French version of the vessel, designed as the future intermediate size frigate (FTI). The vessel renews the heavily-armed 4,000-tonne frigate segment, where it will follow DCNS’ La Fayette-class frigates, of which +20 units were built and operational with four navies around the world. Photo: DCNS
from Defense Update: http://ift.tt/2ej4brB
via Defense News
No comments: