French shipbuilder Naval Group recently announced the selection of first equipment suppliers for the five future intermediate-size frigates (FTI) to be built for the Marine Nationale.
As part of the framework construction contract awarded to Naval Group by the French Defence Procurement Agency in April 2017, the company started a process of selecting the program’s industrial suppliers.
The first of the five frigates is to be delivered to the French Navy in 2023.
As announced by the shipbuilder, the first contractors include Leonardo who will be delivering 76 mm medium calibre artillery systems, MBDA who will be responsible for integration and services related to missile-firing installations while Thales will be delivering sonar and electronic warfare suites along with the IFF (identification, friend or foe) and the communications systems.
Other suppliers include MTU who will be providing twenty MTU 16V 8000 M91L engines, each delivering up to 8,000 kW of mechanical power.
Ixblue will be delivering navigation units and their computers, sonar hatches and torpedo hatches will be delivered by CNIM while Safran Electronics & Defense would be delivering the optronic identification system incorporating the very long range of the PASEO XLR (eXtra Long Range) sight. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems will be delivered by Axima.
“We expect a lot from our suppliers. Their innovative and competitive solutions will contribute to delivering technological superiority in the theatre of operations,” Frédéric Massa, director of Naval Group Purchasing commented. “The success of the program is dependent on them fulfilling their commitments: timely delivery of input data and equipment for which they are responsible, with the expected quality level. We therefore selected them for their capacity to deliver on this strategic program for France.”
The 4,000-tonne FTI (Fregate de Taille Intermediaire) medium-size frigates for the French Navy are derived from Naval Group’s Belh@rra export design.
The frigates will feature an inverted bow design for greater stability at high speeds and will incorporate the new Thales SEA FIRE four flat antenna radar in addition to being equipped with reconfigurable firing installations for Aster 30 and Exocet missiles from MBDA.