French Naval Industry Looks at Frigate Program & Drones as Potential Recovery Plan

VSR700 VTOL UAV aboard a FREMM
VSR700 VTOL UAV aboard a FREMM. This future rotary wing UAV by Airbus Helicopters is set to be deployed aboard the future FDI frigates of the French Navy.
Hervé Guillou, President of GICAN (the French Marine Industry Group) was auditioned on May 14. by the French Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces to debate on the role the naval industry could play in the French economic upturn.
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Martin Manaranche story with additional reporting by Xavier Vavasseur

According to Hervé Guillou: “The naval industry has mobilized to support our armed forces on all priority programs during this period of containment, and the Government’s support measures for businesses, such as sector-specific plans, must now take over to ensure the activity upturn.”

To do so, GICAN and DGA (the French defense procurement agency) have highlighted some key programs to prioritize for a global revival of the French naval industry: acceleration of the FDI Frigate program, hydrographic, maritime surveillance, customs, maritime gendarmerie ships and one that came back several times in the discussion: the droning of ships.

French companies in the naval industry stand ready and have high expectations of a potential defense and security recovery plan to balance an activity undermined by the decline in civilian orders and the inevitable lag in export orders. GICAN is asking the French Government to support maritime R&D, in both defense and civil sectors, to boost supply and to weigh up against international competitors, who are recovering faster.

Drone mother ship concept

Vanguard 130 poster showcased on ST Engineering booth at IMDEX Asia 2019. This concept is being proposed for the MRCV project, it is a 5,000 tons surface combatant able to deploy and recover UAV, UUV and USV.

The concept of droning ships (or turning surface vessels into drone mother ships) is in line with an emerging global trend . It consists of using manned surface vessels (sometimes fully-fledged surface combatants) for the launch, operation and recovery of unmanned maritime systems, essentially using the manned vessel as a mother ship.

As Naval News previously reported on several occasions, defense companies and navies globally are edging closer to this concept, with on going at-sea tests or with actual procurement programs for such mother ships. Here are a few examples:

  • The U.S. Navy experimented with using an EPF as a drone mother ship last year…
  • …and so did the Russian Navy with one of its latest frigate.
  • The Belgian and Netherlands navies have an ongoing procurement program of MCM vessels that will act as drone mother ships. Contracts have been awarded to French companies Naval Group and ECA Group.
  • The Republic of Singapore Navy has a procurement program for the MRCV project which will be a large surface combatant able to deploy and recover UAVs, USVs and UUVs all at once. Several shipbuilders are competing in this tender.
  • Japan’s future 30FFM frigate, currently being built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will also be used as an unmanned system mother ship, especially for mine warfare.
  • South Korea shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries unveiled last year its HCX-19 concept ship, another example of surface combatant design to deploy (and recover) unmanned systems in all three domains.

It appears that both the French government and the french naval industry wish to keep up with the trend.

Naval News spent two days with Belgium Naval & Robotics, a consortium formed by Naval Group and ECA Group to answer the Dutch and Belgian Navies’ joint Mine Countermeasures program (MCM). From stem to stern, let’s discover how this joint venture (called a « combination » by the Belgian military) has built an innovative and strategic offer covering all Belgian requests, and more…
(Credit: Belgium Naval & Robotics)

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