French frigate Auvergne in the Black Sea tracked by Russian Navy.

According to information published by Tass on December 14, 2021, the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s forces are tracking the French Aquitaine-class frigate Auvergne that has entered the Black Sea, Russia’s National Defense Control Center reported.
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French Aquitaine-class frigate Auvergne (Picture source: Tass)

On December 9, Russian Su-27 fighters were scrambled to intercept French and US military aircraft over the Black Sea. Also, a Su-30 fighter of Russia’s Aerospace Force intercepted a US Navy reconnaissance plane over the Black Sea on December 10.

Auvergne (D654) is an Aquitaine-class frigate of the French Navy. On 2 September 2015, the frigate Auvergne was launched.

The FREMM program consists of the construction of 18 ships including 8 for France and 10 for Italy. In France, the class is known as the Aquitaine class, while in Italy they are known as the Bergamini class. The FREMM are designed to be used as Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASM/ASW), Anti-Air Warfare (FREDA) and General Purpose (GP) ships.

The Auvergne Aquitaine-class frigate is armed with two Sylver A50 vertical launch systems for a total of 16 MBDA Aster 15 or 30 surface-to-air missiles, one Leonardo OTO Melara 76 mm SR naval gun, three Nexter 20 mm Narwhal remote weapon systems, eight MBDA MM-40 Exocet block 3 anti-ship missiles, 16-cell MBDA SYLVER A70 VLS for 16 MBDA MdCN naval land-attack cruise missiles and two double Leonardo (WASS) B-515 launcher for MU 90 torpedoes.