There were no major new announcement regarding the procurement of frigates by Greece during the visit. For the record, the Greek authorities announced on 11 December 2021 that they had chosen the French offer to renew their fleet. The announcement followed the signing, by the Greek Mod, Naval Group and MBDA, of a MoU on 28 September for the procurement by Greece of three FDI HN frigates and one in option, all to be built in Lorient, as part of a strategic partnership between France and Greece.
According to Florence Parly, who gave a speech during her visit, the contract should come into force in the next couple of weeks (by late January / early February):
“In the coming weeks, the contract for the acquisition of three of these frigates by Greece will be signed. We are honored by the confidence that Greece has placed in us. Thanks to this order, we will be able to maintain 2,220 jobs in France for five years. It was therefore an obvious choice to invite Nikos Panagiotopoulos to Lorient to meet you. Here, at this shipyard, a part of Greek security will soon be built, as well as a part of European defense, as is already the case today with the ships of our French Navy […]
The strategic partnership between our two countries came into force on December 30. Dear Nikos, I am very pleased that you are coming to France, less than a month after this symbolic date, on the occasion of the launch at ministerial level of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.”
According to our information, the topic is currently being debated in the Greek parliament, but this should be a mere formality and the decision to procure the frigates should be green-lighted without difficulties. The deal will then be officially announced immediately, or by mid-February during a planned visit to Brittany of Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The Greek Defense Minister, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, was full of praise for the French frigate:
“It is an honor and great joy for me to be here today at Naval Group in Lorient where the three Belharra frigates, plus another in option, for the Hellenic Navy will be built […]
The acquisition of French frigates reflects our willingness to provide the Greek fleet with ultra-modern frigates to protect our country.
At the same time, it further strengthens the strategic defense partnership between Greece and France, which is a member of the European Union and NATO, as well as the Transatlantic Alliance itself.
Negotiations on the purchase contract were completed last December […]
The acquisition of Belharra frigates will contribute to significantly improve the combat capability and deterrent power of the Hellenic Navy and of our armed forces whose main mission is to defend the territorial integrity of our country.
With this purchase, the firepower of the Hellenic Navy is now multiplied. The advanced capabilities of the Belharra, in particular its long range anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare performance and the increased warfare capability they provide allow them to perform multiple missions in the entire spectrum of naval warfare”.
Minister Panagiotopoulos had some nice words regarding the Gowind corvettes too:
“In addition, the selection process for new corvettes for the Navy is underway. And the Gowind corvette is a very strong candidate”.
Naval Group is competing against Italy’s Fincantieri (who is proposing a design based on the Doha-class) and Dutch shipyards Damen (who is proposing its SIGMA 10514 design). Lockheed Martin, was reportedly trying to pitch its surface combatant derived from the LCS (MMSC) for the corvette competition following an unsuccessful initial bid in the frigate competition.
About FDI frigates
A total of Five FDI frigates will be ordered by the French defence procurement agency (DGA) for the French Navy. This program reinforces the technological lead of the French naval industrial base, and of Naval Group in particular.
The first of the series will be named Amiral Ronarc’h, after a great admiral, Chief of Staff of the French Navy between 1919 and 1920, who distinguished himself during the First World War at the head of marines and sailors.
The FDI is a high sea vessel with a 4,500 tons class displacement. Multipurpose and resilient, she is capable of operating, alone or within a naval force. She offers capabilities for all types of warfare: anti-surface, anti-air, anti-submarine and as well as for special forces projection. Bringing together the best of French naval technologies on a compact platform, the FDI is a powerful and innovative frigate, designed to meet the evolution of threats.
It is the first frigate to benefit from a digital architecture that will allow her continuous adaptation to technological and operational evolutions. As a result, the FDI will be able to address current and future threats and to handle always more data.
The FDI will be the first French frigate natively protected against cyber threats, with two data centres virtually accommodating a great part of the ship applications. The FDI introduces the concept of a dedicated system for asymmetric warfare. This system will enable the coordination and conduct of the fight against small and close air and surface threats, including booby trapped boats.
Strongly armed (Exocet MM40 B3C anti-surface missiles, Aster 15/30 anti-air missiles, MU90 antisubmarine torpedoes, artillery), the FDI is able to embark simultaneously a helicopter (10 tons class such as NH90) or the future Joint Light Helicopter and an unmanned aerial vehicle (up to 700kg). She can also receive a Special Forces detachment with their two commando boats. They are equipped with the new generation Seafire radar with four fixed panels, developed by Thales, which, combined with the missile delivery system, offers unmatched area defence capabilities.
FDI Technical specifications
- displacement: 4,500 tons class ;
- length: 122 meters ;
- beam: 18 meters ;
- max. speed: 27 knots ;
- autonomy: 45 days ;
- operational availability: 3,500 hours per year
- aviation facility: 10 ton-class helicopter + 1 UAV (up to 700 Kg)
- accommodation: 125 + 28 passengers.
About Gowind corvettes
The Gowind 2500 corvette is 102 metres long with a maximum width of 16 meters and a draft of 5.4 meters. The displacement at full load is around 2,800 tons. The corvette is manned by a crew of 65 sailors and the accommodation on board can accommodate up to 15 special forces operators. The aviation installations allow the use of a 10-ton class helicopter.
The Gowind 2500 corvette is 102 metres long with a maximum width of 16 meters and a draft of 5.4 meters. The displacement at full load is around 2,800 tons. The corvette is manned by a crew of 65 sailors and the accommodation on board can accommodate up to 15 special forces operators. The aviation installations allow the use of a 10-ton class helicopter.
The CODLOD (COmbined Diesel-eLectric Or Diesel) propulsion system consist in two diesel engines (MTU) and two electric engines (Leroy-Somer) for a propulsive power of 10 MW. This allows the corvettes a maximum speed exceeding 25 knots. Their maximum range at 15 knots would be between 3,700 and 4,500 nautical miles.
The first customer of the Gowind type corvette is the Royal Malaysian Navy which awarded a contract in late 2011 to local shipbuilder Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation (BHIC) and Naval Group (then DCNS) for the local construction of six “Littoral Combat Ships”. The Maharaja Lela-class frigates (also known as Second Generation Patrol Vessel – SGPV) are an enlarged version of the Gowind type corvette.
The contract for the acquisition of four Gowind 2500 corvettes (with an option for two more) by Egypt was signed shortly before June 3, 2014 for 1 billion euro, a sum which did not include the weapon systems which were ordered in two separate contracts: one for 400 million euros for MBDA (VL-MICA, MM40 Block 3), the other for approximately 100 to 200 million euros for Naval group (torpedoes). The overall cost of the program is therefore between 1.5 and 1.7 billion euros. The El Fateh program for the four corvettes included the construction and docking of the head-of-series at Naval Group’s Lorient shipyard (in Brittany). The first steel cut of the ENS El Fateh took place in April 2015, the launch on 17 September 2017 and the commissioning on 22 September 2017. The three other corvettes were assembled at Alexandria Shipyard under technology transfer with Naval Group. The launches of ENS Port Said (September 7, 2018), ENS El Moez (May 12, 2019) and ENS Luxor (May 14, 2020) took place regularly and in a staggered manner. It took 61 months between first steel cut of the first corvette and the launch of the fourth ship in the program.
Following Egypt, the United Arab Emirates has signed a contract on 25 March 2019 for 750 million Euros (USD850m) for two Gowind 2500 type corvettes with options for two more, to be built in partnership with local shipyard Abu Dhabi Ship Building Company (ADSB). They will be equipped with Naval Group’s SETIS combat management system, MBDA’s Exocet missile, Raytheon’s Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles.
The Romanian authorities announced in July 2019 the selection of Naval Group and its partner Santierul Naval Constanta (SNC) for the programme to build four new Gowind multi-mission corvettes, to modernize the T22 frigates and to create a maintenance centre and a training centre.
Gowind Technical specifications
- displacement: 2,800 tons class ;
- length: 102 meters ;
- beam: 16 meters ;
- max. speed: 25 knots ;
- autonomy: 21 days ;
- aviation facility: 10 ton-class helicopter + S-100 type UAV
- accommodation: 95 people
