French Navy to retire Lynx helicopters in 2020.

The French Navy will retire all eight Lynx Mk 4(FN) helicopters from service in 2020, 2 years earlier than scheduled.

French Navy Lynx (Picture source: Jean-Michel Roche)

The Lynx Mk 4(FN) had been planned to retire in 2022, but with support costs rising the decision has now been made to bring forward the type's out of service date by two years as a savings measure.

Early retirement of the Lynx will leave a capability gap as the type, equipped with the DUAV-4 active dipping sonar, constitutes the primary anti-submarine rotorcraft on board the French Navy’s last two F70-class frigates, La Motte-Picquet (D645) and Latouche-Tréville (D646).

The decision to bring forward the Lynx out-of-service date means that Latouche-Tréville will have to operate with another helicopter type from mid-2020, like the AS565 Panther.