Florence Parly, Minister of the Armies, Launches the Construction of a New Class of Frigates in Lorient
(Source: French Armed Forces Ministry; issued Oct. 24, 2019)
(Unofficial translation by Defense-Aerospace.com)
The French Navy’s future FDI-class frigates are heavily armed warships intended for independent operations. The first ship will be delivered to the French Navy in 2023, and the Greek Navy has already signed an LOI for at least one ship. (NG image)
The event took place in the presence of the Delegate-General for Armaments Joel Barre, the Chief of Staff of the Navy Admiral Christophe Prazuck, his Greek counterpart Vice-Admiral Nikolaos Tsounis and Hervé Guillou, CEO of Naval Group.
The FDI is a 4,500-ton surface combatant with a crew of 125 officers and ratings. They will be capable of participating in all combat areas on the high seas, and will incorporate many innovations, including the world's first fully-digital fixed panel radar.
The FDI program was launched in 2017. The 2019-2025 military programme law provides for the first two IDF to be delivered to the French Navy by 2025. Five IDF will be serving with the French Navy in 2030. On Admiral Prazuck's proposal, the Minister of Armed Forces has decided that one of them will bear the name of Admiral Louzeau, who recently passed away.
The FDI program contributes to the renewal and strengthening of the French Navy's surface fleet, in accordance with the conclusions of the 2017 strategic review, which will include 15 first-class frigates by 2030: eight multi-mission frigates (FREMM), two air-defense frigates (FDA Horizon) and five Defense and Intervention Frigates (FDI).
Pour ces FDI « à hauteur d’homme » - chaque équipage comptera 125 marins, nous avons choisi les noms de grands bâtisseurs de la Marine : Amiral Ronarc’h, Amiral Louzeau, Amiral Castex, Amiral Nomy, Amiral Cabanier. 4/4 pic.twitter.com/mNq8NstbBo
— Florence Parly (@florence_parly) October 24, 2019
The first FDI was ordered in April 2017 by the Directorate General of Armament (DGA) to the Naval Group shipyard group, teamed with Thales and MBDA. Its delivery to the Navy is scheduled for the end of 2023.
Complementary to the FREMM, the IDF is a 4,500-ton-class, multi-purpose, hard-wearing warship with a crew of 125 officers and ratings.
IDF integrates from its design a concentrate of innovations:
-- They can intervene in all combat domains on the high seas: anti-ship, anti-aircraft, and anti-submarine.
-- They are able to control large air spaces and are also able to defend against asymmetric threats and to deploy a detachment of special forces.
-- To evolve in a more and more digital world, the FDI has native protection against the cyber threats and two digital centers (Data Centers) that combine the computing capabilities of all the on-board sensors and weapons.
-- New-generation on-board equipment includes a fixed four-panel radar that provides 360-degree continuous monitoring on a single mast, and launchers capable of firing several types of anti-aircraft missiles depending on the threat. They are also the first frigates to be able to simultaneously embark a helicopter and a drone of class 700 kg.
-- Designed to be scalable, the FDI will evolve into standards to adapt to changing threats.
Since the award of the contract by the DGA in the spring of 2017, each technical milestone has been crossed in time either for the design of the ship or for the development of the embedded innovations, thanks to a collaborative work on a common platform combining the DGA, industry and the Navy.
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Naval Group Launches the Construction of the First Digital Frigate for the French Navy
(Source: Naval Group; issued Oct. 24, 2019)
The First of Class will be delivered in 2023 and is part of a series of five vessels.
Sylvain Perrier, Naval Group Director of the FDI program declared during this event: “Today, after the successful completion of the initial studies and development phases, we are proud, to reach this first industrial milestone. This ceremony is the first for this major program for which, the DGA will be in charge of prime contract management to the benefit of the French Navy. Thanks to this program, Naval Group will also keep on developing its international exposure. This program will increase to fifteen the number of first-rank frigates of the French Navy, as planned in the French military spending plan (LPM). We were able to uphold our commitment thanks to the collaborative work model we adopted with our client and to the mobilisation of state and industrial actors.”
A digital multi-mission 4,500 tons-class frigate
The FDI is a high sea vessel with a 4,500 tons class displacement. Multipurpose and resilient, she is capable of operating, alone or within a naval force, through all of types of warfare: anti-surface, anti-air, anti-submarine and allows for special forces projection.
Strongly armed (Exocet MM40 B3C anti-surface missiles, Aster 15/30 anti-air missiles, MU90 antisubmarine torpedoes, artillery), the FDI is able to embark simultaneously a helicopter and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). She can also receive a Special Forces detachment with their two commando boats.
The FDI will be the first French frigate natively protected against cyber threats, with a Data Centre accommodating a great part of the ship applications. The FDI introduces the concept of a dedicated system for asymmetric threats warfare, distinct from the operation room. Located behind the bridge, it will lead asymmetrical warfare against air and surface threats such as mini-UAVs or tricked boats. The FDI which gathers the best of French technology in a compact platform. She is a powerful and innovative frigate, designed for facing evolving threats.
The design and production of the FDI build on the experience of the FREMM program: Naval Group benefits from the operational feedback given by the French Navy.
Key figures:
-- Displacement: 4,500 tons class
-- Length: 122 meters
-- Beam: 18 meters
-- Max. speed: 27 knots
-- Autonomy: 45 days
-- Accommodation: 125 + 28 passengers
A large-scale industrial collaboration that particularly mobilises the Naval Group site of Lorient
Five defence and intervention frigates (FDI) have been ordered in April 2017 by the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) to the benefit of the French Navy.
The build of the first of class represents around one million hours of work for the teams of Naval Group’s site of Lorient. Furthermore, it contributes to the economic development of its suppliers and subcontractors, to local employment around Lorient but also to the other Naval Group sites that brought their specific know-how to the program. The conception and development studies also represent around one million hours of work for the entire series.
Industrial key figures:
-- A 100% digital conception – zero paper blueprints
-- 1 million hours of production work for each unit of the series on the Naval Group’ site of Lorient
-- 1 million hours of conception and development for the program
-- 400 subcontractors
-- 20 km of tubes and 300 km of cables for each FDI
Many export opportunities
The future frigate targets the intermediary tonnage ship segment for which there is an international demand. Thanks to its modularity, the ship can be configured to fulfil diverse missions depending on the expressed needs. Thus, with on the one hand the Gowind 2,500-tonnes corvette, on the other hand the 6,000-tonnes FREMM and now the FDI, Naval Group proposes a complete offer for strongly armed military ships.
A Letter of Intention was signed on the 10th of October 2019 by the Greek Minister of Defence, Nicolaos Panagiotopoulos and the French Minister for Armed Forces, Florence Parly. This announcement is in line with the strategic cooperation between the two countries and will allow a close dialogue in order to bring the best answer to the needs of the Hellenic Navy.
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