The steel-cutting ceremony of the first defense and intervention frigate (FDI) took place last week on the Naval Group site of Lorient. The ceremony was led in the presence of the Minister for Armed Forces, Florence Parly, the Head of the French Armament Directorate (DGA) Délégué Général pour l’Armement, Joël Barre, the Chief-of-Staff of the French Navy Christophe Prazuck, the Chief of the Hellenic Navy Nikolaos Tsounis, many French officials and foreign delegations as well as Naval Group CEO, Hervé Guillou.
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 said: “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. 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).”
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). It 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 gathers the best of French technology in a compact platform. It is a powerful and innovative frigate, designed for facing evolving threats.
The design and production of the FDI is built 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
- Maximum speed: 27 knots
- Autonomy: 45 days
- Accommodation: 125 + 28 passengers
Five defense 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 future frigate targets the intermediary tonnage ships segment for which there is an international demand. Thanks to its modularity, the ship can be configured to fulfill diverse missions depending on the expressed needs. Thus, with on the one hand the Gowind 2,500-tons corvette, on the other hand the 6,000-tons 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 Defense, 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.
