The French Navy’s sixth FREMM Normandie started builder’s trials on February 25, Naval Group announced today. Based on photos posted on the company’s Twitter account, the multirole frigate seems to have set sail from the Naval Group Lorient shipyard.
The French Navy (Marine Nationale) announced that the multi-mission frigate (FREMM) Bretagne entered “active service” and is now able to conduct operational missions. “Bretagne” is the fifth of six anti-submarine warfare FREMM frigates ordered from Naval Group by the French Navy.
Following the enactment of the contract with Argentina, Naval Group has started off work on the four offshore patrol vessels, the French shipyard confirmed today. The first vessel to be delivered will be L’Adroit. Developed by Naval Group and built out of its own funds, this vessel had previously been made available to the French Navy since 2011.
The French Ministry of the Armed Forces announced that a French Navy (Marine Nationale) Rafale M fighter fired a METEOR air to air missile for the first time on 13 February 2019.
In the context of the FANAL pre-deployment exercise involving the entire carrier strike group, French Navy (Marine Nationale) aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle set a new record: No less than 35 aircraft, including 30 Rafale Marine, were aboard. All aircraft were lined up on the flight deck for a “PHOTEX”.
The French Navy’s Monge Missile Range Instrumentation Ship (A601) returned at sea. The ship achieved its third major technical stop at the end of 2018, after a year of maintenance work in Brest.
The French Navy (Marine Nationale) announced that aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its strike group set sails on February 3rd to participate in a large-scale combined exercise dubbed FANAL19. The goal of FANAL19 is to achieve a high level of operational readiness and interoperability within an allied naval force.
Chantiers de l’Atlantique and Naval Group were notified yesterday of an order for four Logistic Support Ships (LSS). Previously known as FLOTLOG (for Flotte Logistique), the BRF (bâtiments ravitailleurs de force or force replenishment vessel) contract is valued at 1.7 Billion Euros. The design of the French BRF is based on the Italian LSS (Vulcano-class)
‘Rhône’ has recently returned from its first long-term deployment. The vessel sailed 19,000 nautical miles, through the Northeast Passage, from the Norwegian Sea to the Bering Strait, through the Barents, Kara, Laptevn Siberia and Tukukche Seas. It went back to its homeport (Brest naval base in Britanny) after passing through the Panama Canal.
CNIM will deliver fourteen new landing craft (LCU type, designated EDA-S for “engins de débarquement amphibie standards” in French) to replace the the ageing “CTM” (previous generation of LCUs) in the French Navy (Marine Nationale).
