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Video & Pictures: DCNS Delivers FREMM Frigate Languedoc to the French Navy

Focus - FREMM Languedoc

Video & Pictures: DCNS Delivers FREMM Frigate Languedoc to the French Navy

On 16 March 2016, DCNS delivered the FREMM frigate Languedoc intended for the French Navy, on the occasion of the acceptance ceremony by OCCAR (Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation) on behalf of the French DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement). Navy Recognition was attending and we bring you video and picture coverage of the event.

The FREMM frigates are amongst some of the highest-performance latest-generation surface combatant on the market and have already won over three client Navies.

FREMM Languedoc during a short cruise right before the delivery. Navy Recognition was aboard! Picture: French Navy

FREMM Languedoc is the fifth unit to be built by DCNS and the third intended for the French Navy. The frigate was officially accepted by OCCAR (Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation), an international organisation for the through-life management of cooperative defence equipment programmes, which has the role of contracting authority for FREMMs intended for France and Italy. The ceremony was presided over by the Director of OCCAR, Timothy Rowntree, and the Armaments Engineer-General, Laurent Sellier, Director of the DGA’s “Armaments Naval Operations” management unit, and in the presence of Pierre Legros, Director of Programmes at DCNS.

The official acceptance of the FREMM Languedoc is a demonstration of the satisfaction of the operational personnel that had the opportunity to test its exceptional military qualities in multiple operations theatres. At the start of the year, the Aquitaine and Provence FREMMs participated in the Task Force 50 actions in the Persian-Arabian Gulf, at the sides of the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, designed, built and maintained by DCNS.

These front-line frigates also won over the Royal Moroccan Navy in 2014 and the Egyptian Navy in 2015.

The operational deployments and international successes of this latest-generation frigate demonstrate the capacity of DCNS to design, build and maintain competitive, high-tech vessels, which are perfectly suited to the needs of its clients.

The FREMMs are the first vessels in Europe to deploy the naval cruise missile (MdCN) for which the first firing took place on 19 May 2015 from the FREMM Aquitaine.

“The delivery of the FREMM Languedoc represents an opportunity to highlight the serial effects of a programme that DCNS clients can take advantage of”, notes Anne Bianchi, Director of the FREMM programme at DCNS. “With this fifth unit, DCNS has again improved its industrial and economic performance. It was possible to reduce the duration of the sea acceptance trials for the Languedoc frigate to five weeks, thanks to the experience acquired for the FREMMs already delivered. The DCNS teams and our partners have, in effect, attained an unprecedented level of vessel completion even before its first sea outing”,she underlines.

Navy Recognition learned that during her deployment with USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, FREMM Provence was tasked as "sector air defense commander" while crossing the Hormuz strait. This shows the very high level of integration and interoperability of the French Navy and its latest surface combatant, the FREMM, with US forces and allies. It also illustrate that while air defence is not their primary mission, FREMMs are very capable air warfare platforms non the less, and truly multi role vessels.

Talking to Navy Recognition during the ceremony, Vice Admiral Jean Louis Lozier (in charge of naval programmes at the French Navy) explained that the induction of the Aquitaine-class frigates is a game changer for the French Navy bringing in new capabilities. FREMMs have the capability to cope with and offset emerging Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) strategies emerging in some countries like Russia and China.

The French Navy is set to officially declare "ready for active duty" FREMM Provence in June 2016 and FREMM Languedoc at the end of the year following a long deployment period.

The FREMM programme represents today the construction of ten vessels, of which eight for the French Navy. Six FREMMs will have been delivered to the French Navy before mid-2019, in accordance with the 2015-2019 military programming law. DCNS is currently completing the FREMM Auvergne, which was floated on 2 September 2015, and is pursuing the assembly of the FREMM Bretagne. Work has started on the eighth FREMM in the series, the Normandie. Last but not least, DCNS is finalising the design of two FREMMs with strengthened anti-aircraft capacities, the delivery of which is slated for 2022.

Overview of the FREMM series
Aquitaine, first in the series, delivered in 2012
Mohammed VI, delivered to the Royal Moroccan Navy in 2014
Provence delivered in June 2015
Tahya Misr, delivered to the Egyptian Navy in June 2015
Languedoc delivered on 16 March 2016
Auvergne, Bretagne and Normandie to be delivered in 2017, 2018 and 2019
Two FREMMs with strengthened anti-aircraft capacities to be delivered in 2021 and 2022

To learn more: Link to FREMM Frigate (Aquitaine class) technical datasheet

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All pictures: French Navy unless stated otherwise