French Navy starts operational exercise POLARIS 21 with NATO partners.

According to information published by the French Ministry of Armed Forces on November 22, 2021, the French Navy starts the International Naval Exercise POLARIS 21 with the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and Greece in Western Mediterranean.
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Map of the exercise with the different participating vessels (Picture source: French Navy)

Polaris – Préparation Opérationnelle en Lutte aéromaritime, Résilience, Innovation et Supériorité (Operational readiness in naval-air warfare, resilience, innovation and superiority ¬– is an unparalleled workout for the French Navy in every aspect of combat at sea: carrier operations, anti-submarine warfare, mine clearance, amphibious landings, as well as cyber threats and the latest drone tech.

The French Navy participation includes the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, FREMMs, maritime patrol aircrafts, minehunters, avisos, Rafale fighter jets, and amphibious assault ships.

The D'Estienne d'Orves-class avisos, also known as the A69 type avisos, is a class of avisos, comparable in size to a light corvette, mainly designed for coastal anti-submarine defence, but are also available for high sea escort missions (notably in support missions with the FOST).

The ships are built austerely and have a standard displacement of 1,100 tonnes (1,100 long tons) and 1,270 tonnes (1,250 long tons) at full load. The avisos are 80 metres (262 ft 6 in) long overall and 76 metres (249 ft 4 in) between perpendiculars with a beam of 10.3 metres (33 ft 10 in) and a draught of 5.3 metres (17 ft 5 in).

The ships are armed with a 100 mm (3.9 in) CADAM gun turret with Najir fire control system and CMS LYNCEA, a pair of 20 mm (0.8 in) modèle F2 guns and four 12.7 mm (0.5 in) machine guns.