Hi,

DCNS Finalizes Contract for Multimission Frigate for Morocco

(Source: DCNS; issued April 18, 2008)

PARIS — French Prime Minister François Fillon has confirmed at a seminar in Rabat that DCNS has finalized the contract for a multimission frigate for the Royal Moroccan Navy.

This front-line multimission fighting ship will be based on the FREMM design and will offer advanced capabilities for anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine missions. Innovative engineering solutions, reduced crewing and ease of maintenance were among the key discriminators enabling DCNS to meet the customer’s operational capability requirements.

Executive Vice President and CEO Bernard Planchais commented: “We welcome the decision by Morocco’s highest authorities in favor of the DCNS-designed FREMM frigate to modernize their fleet. This ship will benefit from the many advances arising from the FREMM programme to produce a new generation of front-line vessels for the French Navy. Morocco is our first international customer for this new-generation vessel.

This success opens up new business opportunities for this type of vessel as navies around the world seek to renew and modernize their fleets. Ongoing cooperation with Morocco is a key factor as we pursue development with new customers, particularly the Middle East.”

The FREMM programme — Europe’s most ambitious naval cooperation programme ever — calls for 27 multimission frigates for France and Italy. The 6,000-tonne vessels will be delivered in anti-submarine, anti-surface, anti-air and land strike versions to meet the client navies’ specific needs.

The FREMM frigates for the French Navy are being built under DCNS prime contractorship. These heavily armed ships will carry state-of-the-art weapons and systems including the Herakles multifunction radar, MU90 torpedoes and Exocet MM40 and Aster missiles.

The DCNS group is one of Europe’s leading players on the world market for naval defence systems. To meet customer demands for more comprehensive and integrated systems, DCNS acts as prime contractor for naval shipbuilding, integration and support by combining its own development, marketing and production capabilities with those of selected partners.

To manage the complexity of such projects, the group draws on in-house expertise in naval architecture and systems engineering, ship assembly and integration and equipment design and production, as well as through-life support. The DCNS group employs 13,000 people and generates annual revenues of around EUR 2.8 billion.

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http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?session=dae.36023212.1208777246.YmU9tH8AAAEAAAT6mM8AAAAb&manuel_call_prod=93415&manuel_call_mod=release&modele=jdc_inter

Well “finalising the contract for a multimission frigate” doesn´t mean that the contract has been signed, does it?

Pakistan couldn’t afford 350 mil for a once in a life-time deal of 3 T-23 frigates and had to settle for 4 F-22p’s under loan. They will likely stick to Miligem corvette and T-054’s from china (on loan again). Malaysian navy has ordered leiku frigates and I doubt their ability to pay and handle a 5000 ton frigate anytime soon.

But Pakistan seams to have enough money for new subs which aren´t exactly cheap and Malaysia hasn´t contracted BAe, yet.

At a quick glance it seems a pity that the UK pulled out Project Horizon. Admittedly they were not suitable to the Royal Navy as Anti Air Warfare ship, but as the French are building Anti Submarine versions they would appear to be an excellent candidate for the Tier 1 FSC for the Royal Navy.

That´s a bit OT, but I don´t think that the British Horizon (as in its final known design) would have been unsuited for the RN. The program failed because the work share couldn´t be agreed upon. Also the FREMM is not merely an ASW version of the Horizon. They are completely different designs.

UK could simply buy the designs and build them in UK.If it fits your needs why reinvent the wheel?

With a change/integration of some British build systems I think that would be a good way to go. The real question (besides national pride) is however how much money will flow back into the national economy.

Regards.

Here are some news:

http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=107450

“Scalp Naval As for the Greek project FREMM

15/04/2008

The French government has given its consent to the sale of cruise missiles Scalp Naval to Greece, if it opts for the FREMM as part of the renewal of its fleet of frigates. The president of DCNS was in Athens as part of the opening of a permanent office of the group in the Greek capital. DCNS has also signed a new agreement with Elefsis site, which will carry out the buildings if Athens is the choice of French frigate. This new agreement, which follows the one signed at the end of 2006, sets out the arrangements for the industry organization between French and Greek groups to carry out the program, estimated at several billion euros. “Our desire is to establish a viable Greece to participate in the renewal of frigates of the Hellenic Navy and development programme FREMM. It is a global partnership in the long term and high technological value to the industry Greek, creator of a large number of skilled jobs,”says Jean-Marie Poimboeuf.
The project covers not only the construction of buildings locally, with a significant transfer of technology, but also the integration of Greece to the European FREMM programme, to which Italy is already involved. “We incorporate equipment Greek both the French frigates as those we sell in the export market.” Air conditioning, computers, electronic … While it is too early, according to the boss of DCNS, to say what kinds of equipment could be shipped, he said that within the framework of tenders for the realization of frigates, Greek companies may propose solutions and business opportunities.
Tried priority by the Greek authorities, the renewal of frigates is budgeted for the five-year capital of the country. The French seem for the time being and the well-placed Naval Scalp is a new argument. Developed by MBDA, the first European cruise missile is a weapon very important because few countries have. Taken from the frigate, the missile can reach a target land over 1000 km. So it is a “big plus” for the French offer, in competition with projects including the TKMS German, the Spanish and Dutch Navantia Schelde.
We will return tomorrow, more detail on this project, regarded as “strategic” by DCNS. “

Which they didn´t do unfortunately.

http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=107456

“The Morocco sign for a multi-mission frigate

18/04/2008

According to our information, documents relating to the order by the Royal Moroccan Navy frigate of a multi-missions were signed. Conceived and directed by DCNS, the building will be delivered from 2012. With a length of 137 meters for a displacement of over 5000 tonnes in charge, the FREMM Moroccan will be directly derived from buildings constructed for the Navy. It will, among other things, solid capacity for anti-submarine.
Developed in cooperation with Italy, FREMM presents a great potential for export. In addition to Morocco and other countries in the region would be interested in the frigates. Greece is also focusing on the FREMM, in an anti-aircraft capabilities developed (Aster 30 missiles and Mica VL). DCNS also hopes to sell this range in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.”

Still not dead, in spite of the additional acquisition of Dutch Sigma class corvettes/frigates?!

Regards.

MASS Protection System to Be Mounted on German Minehunters

MASS Protection System to Be Mounted on German Minehunters

(Source: Rheinmetall Defence; issued March 20, 2008)

Rheinmetall will fit MASS anti-missile decoys to two German Navy minehunters, including Passau (above), under an urgent operational requirement. (Rheinmetall photo) The German Navy has contracted with Rheinmetall Defence to supply MASS naval protection systems for two of its minehunter vessels. MASS stands for “Multi Ammunition Softkill System”. Under an immediate operational requirement order, one MJ 333-class vessel and one HL 352-class vessel are to be equipped with a MASS two-launcher configuration system with integrated detection unit by May 2008. The total order is worth some EUR 10 million.

Following successful sea trials, the German Ministry of Defence turned to Rheinmetall in 2007 to have four of its F123-class frigates immediately equipped with this technology prior to deploying to the Eastern Mediterranean. Thus far, three frigates of this class have been equipped with the four-launcher configuration of MASS, teamed with the electronic warfare system and the MSP 500 multi-sensor platform.

Superior naval force protection with MASS

Guided missiles pose an increasing threat to civilian and naval shipping. MASS protects ships from attacks by advanced, sensor-guided missiles on the high seas and in coastal zones as well as from asymmetric threats. The system fires decoy rounds which distract and seduce an incoming missile’s target seeking system.

Fully automatic, the Mass decoy system offers substantial tactical, operational and logistical advantages, and can be installed on ships of all types. It can be integrated into any command and control system, but also operated on a stand-alone basis. Programmable and omni-spectral, the system’s innovative ammunition assures protection in all relevant wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum (UV, EO, laser, infrared and radar).

MASS with integrated detection unit

In this order MASS is combined with an integrated detection unit (MASS-ISS – Integrated Sensor Suite). The detection unit features built-in sensors for detecting radar and laser threats, including a laser warning receiver (NLWS), which is also connected to the onboard “Multi Sensor Platform MSP 500”, an electro-optical (EO) sensor system made by Rheinmetall.

Moreover, the existing radar warning receiver (equipped with a classifier for electronic support measurement) will be replaced by a state-of-the-art electronic support measures system, the SME 100. Integrated by Rheinmetall Defence in cooperation with Saab Avitronics, this system makes it possible not just to recognize an approaching target, but to classify and, in best-case scenarios, to identify it by category and type.

Since the product’s launch in 2003, Rheinmetall Defence has booked orders for MASS from the navies of seven nations – a total of 96 launchers for 13 different classes of vessels ranging in size from patrol boats and minehunters to corvettes, and frigates.

The navies of Germany (K130 corvettes), Finland (SQUADRON 2000), Norway (SKJOLD patrol boats), Sweden (Visby, Göteborg and Malmö-class vessels), the United Arab Emirates (Baynunah programme), Oman (Khareef-class vessels) as well as one other country in the Middle East have all successfully introduced MASS technology.

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Thanks Merlock. And I feared that this great thread would be dead already:-))

As Santi, I was unaware of the NIMIS. In essence Chantiers de l’Atlantique employed the same strategy as TKMS (for their MHD 15000 design) and Merwede (Canterbury).

Am I right in assuming that the BIP is a direct predecessor to Mistral?

Regards.

Hi,

Giuseppe Garibaldi at X-ray, very rare image

thanks, very interesting picture indeed.

I think that is the streched Ulsand desing that South Koreans offered

You think so? It hardly resembles it. If someone has any additional info, please don´t hold yourself back:-))

I have some more for you, don´t know if they are “real” though. First is a SPY-1F version of the KDX-II and second is the stretched F-100.

Have fun.

Hi,

These are former iterations of the Korean KDX-III “Death Star”. The most interesting that with APAR + SMART-L

Great Santi, I have been looking for that APAR equipped version for a long time without results. Thanks a lot. Do you have any statistics for that one. Length would be enough:-)))

Regards.

Hi,

Ok Soviet never-wheres part II

Thanks Gollevainen. Nice collection. I see many more shipbucket style drawings in there:-))

… and three years later born BPE/SPS like an evolution of LHD proposal. In fact, with different names, LHD has been offered by Izar/Navantia from those years up to now.

True. Funnily this picture was up on Navantia´s web page until yesterday. Does someone know wether “LHD 21.500 TN” stands for tons or Turkish Navy? It might be a contender to their requirement for a LHD, couldn´t it?

About LSL, it happens like BSAC CV’s a lot of speculation and nearly any info available.

Yeah, too bad. My guess is that it was an evolution of the Galicia/Rotterdam class. Guess they offered that one to Portugal for their NAVPOL program as well. Let´s see wether that one will turn into the one of those instead:

The image also make reference to the SeAPAR, although is obvious that the set showed is a more conventional one..

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Thanks for the picture. It shows the usual configuration. The picture I posted reminded me more of a K130 with the Gawron weapons fit while the “real” Gwaron really is quite true to the original Meko A100 design.

Does someone know the status of this program?

Regards.

Hi,

It would not surprise me if German yards would be involved, as the Germans had greater success exporting naval ships. Yet, not just German yards.

Well I stand correct than. It was a deal for both yards. The design however resembles more the Bremen “sub class” than the original Kortenaer class, don´t you agree?

BTW Bremer Vulcan in the late 1980s offered an enhanced version of the F122 for export and for additional national orders due to the delay in the NFR-90 program and before switching to the F-25 model that was long shown on naval-technology.com (if someone has that picture available I´d greatly appreciate if it would be posted here). Anyway the F122 AAW had a number of enhancements including some signature reduction etc.

I also found this picture that has to originate from a Thales advertisement. Does someone know wether Thales offered APAR/SeaPAR for the Polish Meko A100 Gawron project (Slazak class)? Does someone have the hole ad?

Regards.