French Navy’s fifth ASW FREMM frigate concludes sea trials

By Baird Maritime - November 23, 2017.

Naval Group – Auvergne is the fourth ASW FREMM frigate.

The fifth French anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigate, Bretagne, has completed its first sea trials.

The trials at Lorient were testing the Frégate Européenne Multi-Mission (FREMM) vessel’s propulsion and navigation systems.

The 142-metre LOA vessel has a cruising range of 6,000 nautical miles at 15 knots, with a top speed of 27 knots. It will be crewed by 108 people, and has accommodation for 145.

Bretagne was designed and constructed by Naval Group and was built as part of an order placed by the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) on behalf of the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA).

The French Navy is expected to take delivery of the ship in mid-2018, and to have six FREMM frigates by 2019.

FREMM frigates are integrated with a variety of advanced and capable weapon systems such as the Héraclès multifunction radar, naval cruise missiles, Aster and Exocet MM40 missiles or MU 90 torpedoes.

The final two ships in the series are set to be specially configured for anti-air warfare (AAW) operations and delivered in 2021 and 2022.