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Couach, a name that immediately appeals to many sea lovers, in France as well as in many marinas around the world: for more than 120 years – the shipyard was founded in 1898 – Couach has been building exceptional yachts, guaranteeing their crews top-notch performance at sea.
Florent Battistella, the CEO of the shipyard, recalls:
“The yacht is our historical activity, the basis of our DNA, which means that we place performance at sea, comfort on board and adaptation to the needs of our clients at the heart of our projects”
This traditional activity, part of the company’s heritage, that the shipyard is committed to maintaining even today.
But from a well-known builder of large yachts, the shipyard has, since the 1980s, successfully diversified into the field of professional vessels, and primarily military vessels. Since 1970 and the first surveillance boats, the Couach Shipyard has built more than 500 security and defense vessels, up to 32 meters, with patrol boats and interceptors as its core expertise. Always with the initial ambition of building high-performance, robust and reliable ships in composite:
“Our know-how in composite technology and our ability to build quality ships in large series – up to 79 interceptors built in 20 months! – are real assets for navies.”
Florent Battistella.
Couach: Vessels to meet the needs of today’s navies… and tomorrow’s
In fact, Couach’s professional vessels are now recognized and sought after around the world for their performance. “The fact that we have these two activities, civil and security/defense, permanently in the shipyard is a real strength that allows our ships to benefit from the best of both worlds,” says the CEO. Couach designs each of its vessels as a modular platform, according to the needs of its customers, who are systematically involved in the entire design and construction process. A way also to identify the future needs of the users.
In order to design today the technologies that will be required at sea tomorrow, the Couach Shipyard has set up an R&D office that is unprecedented for a company of its size. At Euronaval 2022, Chantier Naval Couach will exhibit its latest innovations, resulting from the work of its R&D office and productive discussions with its international and national customers over the last few years.
Couach: Designing patrol boats as genuine “small frigates”
Couach’s R&D office is a fully integrated innovation laboratory for its vessels. The FPB 2200, a 22.35-meter patrol boat, is a good example of this, as the shipyard has demonstrated its ability to integrate a wide range of sophisticated equipment and systems for vessels of this size: two Dynateq remotely operated weapon stations, a LIG Nex1 rocket launcher, a combat management system (CMS) by Nexeya, a day/night camera by Safran and a communications suite by Thales. “For the shipyard, this is a real leap forward in integration capability, which opens up new possibilities for ships of this size,” said Couach’s CEO.
The 2200 FPB also benefits from all the expertise of Chantier Naval Couach for its excellent behavior at sea, combining speed – up to more than 30 knots maximum speed, 18 knots in sea state 4 – and maneuverability.
Taking the lead in ship modularity
At the show, Couach Shipyard is also unveiling the 1200 LMI (Light Modular Interceptor), a modular military interceptor that can be converted into a fast patrol vessel, capable of reaching a maximum speed of more than 65 knots. “We wanted to develop a new modular platform by design, from the engine to the exterior and interior spaces,” says Florent Battistella. With an overall length of 13.95 meters in its largest configuration, the 1200 LMI carries from 2×200 to 4×400 horsepower, an open or closed wheelhouse, and large storage and/or salvage areas.
The 1200 LMI benefits from all the experience of the Couach Shipyard in composite construction (Glass, Kevlar, Carbon), which lightens the ship and guarantees its speed.
The Magellan, a surface drone, the latest creation of the shipyard
In addition to the FPB 2200 and the 1200 LMI, the Couach Shipyard is unveiling its latest innovations at Euronaval 2022, including its first surface drone, the Magellan. Co-developed with a customer, the MAGELLAN will be used for various missions at sea in the future: electronic warfare, information gathering, target detection and identification, surface and underwater surveillance and reconnaissance. To carry out its missions, the Magellan benefits from all of Couach’s experience: modularity of the platform, performance at sea, and high composite technology. An innovation to discover, among others, on Couach’s stand at Euronaval 2022.
The Shipyard welcomes you from Tuesday, October 18 to Friday, October 22, 2022 at the Euronaval exhibition, stand G43 Hall B.
