PARIS \u2013 The defense minister has approved administrative steps to launch a \u20ac3.8 billion ($4 billion) program for five intermediate frigates for the French Navy, procurement chief Laurent Collet-Billon said March 22.
The minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, “granted the approval,” the head of the Direction G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de l’Armement told Defense News, confirming a report by Mer et Marine, a specialist naval website.
Besides building the ships at Lorient, in Britanny, northwest France, there will be major work on subsystems around the country, including the Aquitaine and Provence regions, Collet-Billon said.
Le Drian holds a dual mandate of defense minister while he is also president of the Britanny regional council.
Development work will keep research offices busy and the program will help exports, the DGA chief told Defense News after speaking at a Circle of Economists’ conference on the theme “Defense industries: are they an asset for the economy?”
That approval, given on Monday when the ministerial investment committee met, was seen as a key step toward awarding contracts ahead of the election of the next French president in a two-step vote on April 23 and May 7. A parliamentary election follows in June.
Shipbuilder DCNS will be prime contractor, with electronics company Thales supplying a new multifunction naval radar, dubbed Sea Fire 500, and a new compact version of its Captas-4 towed array sonar.
MBDA Aster 30 anti-air missiles will arm the French Navy frigates, but the service has shown little interest in upgrading to an anti-ballistic missile capability, an industry source said.
The Italian Navy has expressed interest in fitting an anti-ballistic missile on its planned PPA frigates, arming them with a planned Aster 30 Block 1 new technology missile. Italy will fund studies to adapt that land weapon for warships.
Britain has also said it will study fitting Aster 30 Block 1 NT on its Type 45 Daring-class destroyer.
MBDA Exocet missiles are expected to be offered on DCNS’ export version of the intermediate frigate, dubbed Belh@rra, with the onboard digital technology reflected in the use of the @-symbol.
Those frigates are aimed at foreign navies, looking to plug a French gap in the export market. Italy’s Fincantieri last year won a Qatari order worth \u20ac3.8 billion for seven vessels, pointing up the need for Paris to launch a suitable competitive product.
DCNS and the minister’s office were not available for comment, while Thales declined comment.
The 4,200-ton Belh@rra vessels are intended to slot in above the Gowind corvette, which weighs 2,000 tons, and below the multimission frigate weighing 6,000 tons.
DCNS concluded March 17 the first sea trials of the Gowind 2500, the company said in a statement. The shipbuilder has sold 10 of the warships to foreign clients, with the first of class built at Lorient, and nine to be built in Egypt and Malaysia for their navies.
“The sea trials of the Gowind\u00ae 2500 corvette once again illustrate DCNS’ industrial capacity to manage and realize major programs with products meeting the needs of our customers”, said Pierre Legros, DCNS senior vice-president for programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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