France orders two more FDIs from Naval Group

During a visit by French Defence Minister Florence Parly to the Naval Group in Lorient on 30 March, the order for two additional Frégates de Défense et d'Intervention (FDI) was announced. The order was placed by the procurement agency DGA. The acceleration of the FDI programme also serves to secure the order situation at Naval in Lorient, where the frigates are to be built. The two ships, numbers two and three in a series of five units, are both due to be delivered to the Marine Nationale as early as 2025. The original plan was to put these FDIs into service every 18 months.

Graphic of FDI from Naval Group

The first ship in the class, the Amiral Ronarc'h has been under construction since the end of October 2019. It is scheduled to enter service in 2024. The 121-metre-long ships displace 4,200 tonnes and have a crew of 128. The armament includes eight Exocet MM 40 Block 3 anti-ship missiles, two VLS launchers with eight cells each for MBDA Aster 15/30 and a 76-millimetre cannon. A hangar is available to accommodate an NH 90 and a drone. The crew will work with the Setis 3.0 command and weapon deployment system, which was also developed by Naval Group. The French Navy is also relying entirely on domestic products for the sensor equipment. The SeaFire multifunction radar operating in S-band and the Captas sonar are to be installed. Both products come from Thales.
The FDIs are intended to be suitable for combating air, sea and underwater targets. They can also take 28 other people on board, including special forces.

Text: mb; Illustrations: Naval Group