The French Navy has awarded DCNS a through-life support contract for the four Triomphant-class ballistic nuclear submarines based in Brest.
This new contract is awarded for a total duration of almost nine years. It represents a direct follow-on to the previous SSBN routine maintenance contracts.
According to the French defense contractor DCNS, this contract, which entered into force on November 16, covers over fifty technical shutdowns until 2025 on Le Triomphant-class, type M51 SSBNs. Each will last a few weeks between two patrol missions.
In total, some five hundred DCNS employees, are involved in the routine maintenance of the four SSBNs, Le Triomphant, Le Téméraire, Le Vigilant and Le Terrible.
DCNS also said it would locally subcontract part of the work related in particular to handling, painting and similar, noting it would rely on the main system suppliers for certain specific installations.
Since 2010, DCNS Group has also been working on enabling the submarines to carry the new M51 (IA M51) strategic missile developed under the project management of the DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement).