DCNS has rolled out the French Navy’s third Aquitaine-class FREMM multi-mission ship, Provence, from the building dock at its Lorient facility in France.
Construction on the vessel began in December 2010 and it is due to be fitted with masts, sensors, radars, antennas, cameras and jammers by DCNS specialists and subcontractor teams.
DCNS is under contract to build 12 FREMM ships, of which 11 vessels are for the French Navy, with one reserved for the Royal Moroccan Navy.
The FREMM frigates will support missions including anti-air warfare (AAW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW) and anti-submarine warfare (ASW).
The French FREMM frigates will be built in two mission versions where nine ships will feature ASW and shore bombardment enhanced capabilities, and two will have torpedoes, vertical-launch self-defence missiles and an active towed array sonar.
Capable of accommodating a crew of 145 with a complement crew of 108, the 142m-long French Navy’s FREMM frigate has a displacement capacity of 6,000t, can cruise at a speed of 27k and has a range of 15k.
The FREMM vessels feature radar and communications detection, radar jamming, ASW and AAW decoys, variable depth sonar and torpedo alert/warning, broadband communications, multi-function radar, naval cruise missiles, guns up to 127mm and surface to surface missiles with OTH capability.
The French Navy had received the first FREMM frigate, Aquitaine, in November 2012 and the second vessel in its class, FREMM Mohammed VI, is expected to be delivered to the Royal Moroccan Navy in late 2013.
Normandie, the second FREMM ship for French Navy will begin sea trials in near future while construction on the French Navy’s fourth FREMM frigate, Languedoc, will start shortly.
Image: French Navy’s second FREMM frigate Provence during its launching ceremony. Photo: courtesy of DCNS.
