Marine Nationale (French Navy)

[Sandhi Yudha]

France recently tested the M51. Le Triomphant class submarines are armed with the M45 or, starting from 2010, with the new M51.

The missile was followed throughout its flight phase by DGA Essais de Missiles. The fallout zone was located in the North Atlantic. This test was carried out without a military nuclear warhead and in strict compliance with France’s international commitments.

Also noteworthy, a United States Air Force RC-135S Cobra Ball was in the air during the missile test. The aircraft is a measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) collector equipped with special electro-optical instruments designed to observe ballistic missile flights at long range

But that's a coincidence ofcourse...

Video: France Successfully Tests an M51 Ballistic Missile - Naval News

The French ministry of armed forces announced that the procurement agency DGA this morning successfully tested an M51 submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

www.navalnews.com

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

The first of the five Sea Fire AESA digital radars for French Navy’s future Frégates de Taille Intermédiaire / Frégate de Défense et d’Intervention arrived at the Lorient shipyard on 27 April 2021 for integration on the first vessel.

The SEA FIRE provides early warning of potential attacks from conventional and emerging air and surface threats using long-range 3D surveillance, horizon search, and surface surveillance. Sea Fire's performance is quite impressive and its 360-degree coverage can track 800 objects simultaneously without saturation at a range of up to 500 kilometers in the air and 80 kilometers on the surface.

Besides the FTI/FDI frigates (including those proposed to the Hellenic Navy), Thales is already pitching its new radar for export (likely for the Republic of Singapore Navy’s MRCV program). A variant of the radar will also be fitted aboard the future aircraft carrier of the French Navy, the PANG.

Thales Delivers First Sea Fire Next Gen Radar for France's New Frigates - Naval News

On April 27th 2021, Thales delivered the first digital Sea Fire radar for integration on the French Navy’s FDI Frigate in Lorient.

www.navalnews.com

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

According to Xavier Vavaseurs' Twitterpost,
the first La Fayette class "Frégate Légère Furtive" FLF to receive a mid-life update is the Courbet.

These are the most important items:
- Improved anti missile capabilities
- ASW capability (new for the class)
- Improved IPMS derived from the one on CDG
- Revamped CIC

It seems they regard the replacement of the Crotale by two sextuple launchers of MANPADS as an improvement.
Here some photos taken by the Navalnews-team.

 

[kato]

It seems they regard the replacement of the Crotale by two sextuple launchers of MANPADS as an improvement.

The VT1 missiles for the Crotale CN2 are nearing the end of their shelf life, which means either upgrading the launchers and buying new missiles, or replacing it entirely.

The Sadral launchers are available in stock - recycled from Georges Leygues destroyers replaced by FREMM. The performance of Mistral (current versions) in a CIWS application against anti-ship missiles is supposedly better than Crotale, although that has to be seen in relation to Crotale having rather bad performance in an anti-missile role - it was never really built for that.

Unlike Crotale the Sadral system can additionally be employed against surface targets, so that's one distinct advantage.

 

[swerve]

AFAIK other options such as replacing Crotale with Aster 15 or VL Mica were rejected as not worth the expenditure. The La Fayettes will be replaced by FTIs in a few years, with Admiral Ronarc'h scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2024. Steel has been cut, first radar delivered for integration.

There may be countries interested in buying the ships as they retire & fitting something else, in which case not having fitted higher-performance missiles could even be an advantage, as removing the Sadrals should be easy & cheap.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

So these POMs/OPVs will be based in French overseas territories to replace ageing P400-class patrol boats.The POM program is to provide six OPVs to the French Navy meant to be based in French overseas territories: two in La Reunion, two in French Polynesia and the last two in New Caledonia.

French Navy's new POM OPVs Take Shape at Socarenam Shipyard - Naval News

On July 21, 2021, Naval News visited Socarenam Shipyard in Saint Malo (Brittany, France) to see the progress being made on the future French Navy OPV program known as "POM" (Patrouilleur d’Outre-Mer).

www.navalnews.com

 

[kato]

So these POMs/OPVs will be based in French overseas territories to replace ageing P400-class patrol boats.

In some of these cases they also replace the wide variety of tugs and other adhoc ships used temporarily in patrol duties (as the P400s were mostly retired a while ago).

The names for the six ships were published in May:
- For Noumea : August Bénébig and Jean Tranape
- For Papeete : Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai and Philippe Bernardino
- For La Reunion : Auguste Techer and Félix Éboué

The six ships are named for Compagnons de la Libération who were native in the respective territory, with the exception of Félix Éboué (born in French Guyana and the grandson of former slaves there, later a major figure in the leadership of overseas Free French in Africa in WW2). The class of ships as a whole will be named for Félix Éboué.

 

[Redlands18]

In some of these cases they also replace the wide variety of tugs and other adhoc ships used temporarily in patrol duties (as the P400s were mostly retired a while ago).

The names for the six ships were published in May:
- For Noumea : August Bénébig and Jean Tranape
- For Papeete : Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai and Philippe Bernardino
- For La Reunion : Auguste Techer and Félix Éboué

The six ships are named for Compagnons de la Libération who were native in the respective territory, with the exception of Félix Éboué (born in French Guyana and the grandson of former slaves there, later a major figure in the leadership of overseas Free French in Africa in WW2). The class of ships as a whole will be named for Félix Éboué.

The French have to replace the Floreal class "Frigates"(in reality large OPVs) too at some stage.

 

[kato]

The French have to replace the Floreal class "Frigates"(in reality large OPVs) too at some stage.

The Floreals are currently still planned to be replaced with a European Patrol Corvette derivative probably around 2030 (there's no money budgeted for it before 2025).

Before that they will first be replacing the OPVs for France itself with a new class of ten ships called PO. It's somewhat expected that a contract for that will be signed before the end of the year.

 

[Redlands18]

The Floreals are currently still planned to be replaced with a European Patrol Corvette derivative probably around 2030 (there's no money budgeted for it before 2025).

Before that they will first be replacing the OPVs for France itself with a new class of ten ships called PO. It's somewhat expected that a contract for that will be signed before the end of the year.

Thanks for that, forgot about the Euro Corvette project, that makes sense.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

In some of these cases they also replace the wide variety of tugs and other adhoc ships used temporarily in patrol duties (as the P400s were mostly retired a while ago).

The names for the six ships were published in May:
- For Noumea : August Bénébig and Jean Tranape
- For Papeete : Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai and Philippe Bernardino
- For La Reunion : Auguste Techer and Félix Éboué

The six ships are named for Compagnons de la Libération who were native in the respective territory, with the exception of Félix Éboué (born in French Guyana and the grandson of former slaves there, later a major figure in the leadership of overseas Free French in Africa in WW2). The class of ships as a whole will be named for Félix Éboué.

Socarenam has launched the first of the 80-metre POM (Patrouilleur d’Outre-Mer) vessels at the Saint Malo shipyard.

Intended for the French Navy, the Auguste Benebig and her 79,9 meter long sisters will be based in French overseas territories to replace ageing P400-class patrol boats and carry out protection missions in the French exclusive economic zones (EEZ).

Socarenam Launches First POM OPV for French Navy - Naval News

French shipbuilder Socarenam launched the first ship in a new class of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) for the French Navy. The "Auguste Benebig" was launched at the Socarenam shipyard in Saint Malo (Brittany) on 15 October 2021 as part of the POM (Patrouilleur d’Outre-Mer) program.

www.navalnews.com

The first upgraded La Fayette Class frigate is already finished and returned to the Marine Nationale. Upgrade work on La Fayette is set to be completed in the Summer of 2022. The final upgraded frigate, Aconit, is set to be delivered in 2023.

First Upgraded La Fayette-class Frigate back into the French Fleet - Naval News

The French Navy's first upgraded La Fayette-class frigate, "Courbet", was handed over to the French defense procurement agency (DGA) on 13 September 2021 following sea trials. Meanwhile, upgrade work on a second frigate, first-in-class ship La Fayette, started on 4 October 2021.

www.navalnews.com

 

[ngatimozart]

Socarenam has launched the first of the 80-metre POM (Patrouilleur d’Outre-Mer) vessels at the Saint Malo shipyard.

Intended for the French Navy, the Auguste Benebig and her 79,9 meter long sisters will be based in French overseas territories to replace ageing P400-class patrol boats and carry out protection missions in the French exclusive economic zones (EEZ).

Socarenam Launches First POM OPV for French Navy - Naval News

French shipbuilder Socarenam launched the first ship in a new class of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) for the French Navy. The "Auguste Benebig" was launched at the Socarenam shipyard in Saint Malo (Brittany) on 15 October 2021 as part of the POM (Patrouilleur d’Outre-Mer) program.

www.navalnews.com

Those boat alcoves look a bit to close to the waterline for the Pacific. I remember the problems that the RNZN had with the MRV HMNZS Canterbury with its boat alcoves and they ended up being raised a deck higher.

 

[spoz]

Possibly; although if you look at the Fassmers the Chileans are operating successfully down as far as the Antarctic Peninsular (in summer admittedly) and the position of their boat bays, it may well be OK. A lot of it will have to do both with the sea conditions in which they will be operating and the particular charactaristics of the hull concerned; and that in turn will depend on both the hull form under water and the distance the boat bay is from the bow and stern. Canterbury might have not had the problems had the design on which she is based not been intended for something entirely different to what the RNZN's requirements were. I'm sure (well, pretty sure!) that the French designers will have considered that, but time will tell I guess how well they managed the issue.

 

[John Fedup]

This Forbes article discusses the merits of US involvement in France’s new carrier development as compensation for the AUKUS agreement which resulted in France losing its submarine contract with Australia. It certainly should help the French move on and getting EMALS fitted to a smaller carrier may be a path to smaller carriers for the USN although I really doubt a 70k ton CVN represents value for money over a 100k ton Ford class CVN when cost versus capability trade-offs are evaluated. In any event, a good move.

U.S.-French Deal On New Aircraft Carriers Could Mend Rift From Sub Snub

Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron can heal wounded Franco-U.S. relations at the G-20 meeting later this month by focusing on a different high-value asset: aircraft carriers.

www.forbes.com

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

The fusion between the damaged Perle and the retired Saphire is complete. Now the Perle will be send to Toulon for a major overhaul.

The submarine was originally expected to reenter service in 2022, but it is rescheduled now to return just one year later. The enhancements made to the boat throughout the repairs will extend its service life for another decade past 2023. Perle is expected to remain in service until the 2030's. During the upcoming overhaul, the flank array sonars will be upgraded.

The work cost about €110 million (U.S. $127.6 million), with DCNS responsible for about €50 million, and the French government covering €60 million. For that money yyou dont get a new or second hand nuclear submarine.

The French Navy’s damaged nuclear sub is out at sea once more

The French Navy’s nuclear submarine Perle has returned to sea following just about a year of work to repair its fire-damaged body and splice it together with a second boat.

www.defensenews.com

French SSN Perle Overhaul to Resume Following Unique Repair Work - Naval News

The French Ministry of Armed Forces announced that the fire-damaged Rubis-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) Perle is now repaired and on its way back to Toulon naval base where its overhaul will resume.

www.navalnews.com

 

[kato]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1454385217368727553

Would be interesting how they facilitated that given the Gardian's one-way ferry range from Noumea is broadly 500 km short of Guam - which Bayern left on the 22nd to continue on to Japan...

 

[kato]

Would be interesting how they facilitated that

The Gardian in the images, aircraft no.80 regularly assigned to FAPF, is deployed to Okinawa and based there supports UN sanctions on North Korea which Bayern will also join after her current visit in Japan. Somewhat oddly the article below fails to mention that a Canadian CP-140 is also deployed to Okinawa until mid-November.

'The UN's eyes': French Navy enforces North Korea sanctions | DefenceTalk

Flying above the Yellow Sea between Korea and China, a French naval crew scans the ocean surface for signs of contraband headed for North Korea. The team is part of an international mission enforcing United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang, flying surveillance trips from the US Futenma base in...

www.defencetalk.com

The French MoD is a bit less reserved about calling it "an illustration of French efforts to cooperate with its European partners in actions in the Indopacific" and "promoting a European approach to security challenges". We all know what that's aimed at in diplomatic speech.

https://www.defense.gouv.fr/marine/actu-marine/cooperation-360-pour-le-batiment-de-soutien-et-d-assistance-metropolitain-loire/cooperation-franco-allemande-dans-le-pacifique

Le 30 octobre, il a ainsi conduit une interaction avec la frégate allemande Bayern au large du Japon. Cette action de coopération franco-allemande, une première dans cette région éloignée de l’Europe, est illustratrice des efforts de la France pour associer ses partenaires européens à son action dans l’espace Indopacifique et y promouvoir une approche européenne face aux enjeux de sécurité.

 

[ngatimozart]

The Gardian in the images, aircraft no.80 regularly assigned to FAPF, is deployed to Okinawa and based there supports UN sanctions on North Korea which Bayern will also join after her current visit in Japan. Somewhat oddly the article below fails to mention that a Canadian CP-140 is also deployed to Okinawa until mid-November.

'The UN's eyes': French Navy enforces North Korea sanctions | DefenceTalk

Flying above the Yellow Sea between Korea and China, a French naval crew scans the ocean surface for signs of contraband headed for North Korea. The team is part of an international mission enforcing United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang, flying surveillance trips from the US Futenma base in...

www.defencetalk.com

The French MoD is a bit less reserved about calling it "an illustration of French efforts to cooperate with its European partners in actions in the Indopacific" and "promoting a European approach to security challenges". We all know what that's aimed at in diplomatic speech.

https://www.defense.gouv.fr/marine/actu-marine/cooperation-360-pour-le-batiment-de-soutien-et-d-assistance-metropolitain-loire/cooperation-franco-allemande-dans-le-pacifique

Le 30 octobre, il a ainsi conduit une interaction avec la frégate allemande Bayern au large du Japon. Cette action de coopération franco-allemande, une première dans cette région éloignée de l’Europe, est illustratrice des efforts de la France pour associer ses partenaires européens à son action dans l’espace Indopacifique et y promouvoir une approche européenne face aux enjeux de sécurité.

There's a Kiwi P-3K2 on its way up there to support the UN sanctions on NK. It's being based out of the JASDF Kadena Air Base. It maybe the replacement for the RCAF CP-140.

 

[aussienscale]

DSCA notification for the approval of EMALS & AAG for France's future aircraft carrier.

France – Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) | Defense Security Cooperation Agency

www.dsca.mil

Guess that settles the speculation of the configuration of their new carrier's launch and recovery systems:

"The Government of France has requested to buy one (1) Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS),
2 launcher configuration; and one (1) Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG)"

Had been speculation on whether they would move up to a 4 cat system with the jump to a 75k carrier, some renderings even had 3 cats, not sure how accurate that was, would have thought a 75k nuclear carrier would be capable of the flexibility of having 4 cats, but a big step forward moving to EMALS/AAG either way.

Cheers

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

I thought that the E-2 was out of production for many years and that the E-2Ds were built from old E-2C airframes, but it seems that Northrop-Grumman still produces new E-2 aircrafts.

Northrop Grumman Wins Contract for French Navy E-2D Aircraft - Naval News

Northrop Grumman won a $354 million U.S. Navy contract to start production on three E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft for the French Navy (Marine Nationale).

www.navalnews.com