Aquitaine class (FREMM) frigates of French Navy, Royal Moroccan Navy and Egyptian Navy
Aquitaine class is the French variant of the FRigate European Multi-Mission (FREMM) class, a class of frigates designed by the French DCNS and the Italian Ficantieri in a joint program to replace the existing destroyers and frigates within the French and Italian navies. The frigates between the two navies share some general characteristics, weapons and systems but also have several differences in the equipment related to propulsion system, electronic equipment and weapons following the different requirements of both navies. Thus, the Italian Navy is building two variants, one for ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) role and one for GP (General Purpose) role. However the differences between these Italian variants are focused basically only in some of the main weapon systems and specifically in the guns and missiles. The GP versions are equipped with a 5in (127mm) gun on the bow deck while the ASW versions retain the 3in (76mm) gun and they are equipped also with four MILAS ASW missiles. Both the two Italian variants will be analyzed in another article. In contrast, the French Navy is acquiring only a multi-mission variant (for the moment) with advanced ASW capabilities as the vessels are equipped with towed sonar array and the capability for land attacks.
The initial plan of French Navy was to replace the seven (7) destroyers (not such classification in Marine Nationale) of
Georges Leygues class class, the two (2) remaining destroyers of the
Tourville class and the nine (9) corvettes of the
D'Estienne d'Orves-class; 17 vessels in total. However, the number of the FREMMs under construction have been reduced dramatically due to the economic crisis. The plan was revised down to just 11 frigates in 2008 and thus replacing the fleet of destroyers but recently in 2013 the number of FREMM frigates to enter service with the French Navy was reduced to just eight. In that way French Navy either will decrease the fleet or they will need to increase the budget in order more FREMMs or another type of vessels to be built. A decision on whether or not to build the remaining 3 FREMM will be made in 2016. The D'Estienne d'Orves-class will possibly be replaced by a different type and not the expensive and high-tech FREMM. The first of the Aquitaine class entered in service in August of 2012. To date the only one export has been an ASW variant for the Royal Moroccan Navy which purchased its
Mohammed VIfrigate in 2014, a similar to the Aquitaine class without the VLS for the SCALP Naval cruise missiles and without jammers and Narwhal guns.
The Aquitaine class is a class of stealth frigates capable for any kind of mission with the exception of the AAW task that requires the replacement of the Vertical Launch System (VLS). The general characteristics of the class is displacement of 6,000tons, length of 142m, beam of 20m, maximum speed of 28knots and range of 6,000n.m. with a cruising speed of 15knots. The ship has a crew of 108 persons while it can accommodate up to maximum 180. Each vessel can accommodate an NH90 ASW helicopter while it carries two RHIBs for commando operations. As a typical configuration in any kind of vessels the frigate has one main gun on the bow deck which is the fully automatic
OTO Melara Super Rapido gun of 76mm/62cal. The gun is capable to intercept air and surface targets at a distance of 16 km unleashing 120 rounds per minute weighting greater than 6kg each. The gun has excellent performance in any kind of role, such as air defence, anti surface, anti-missile and shore bombardment role.
The VLS behind of the main naval mount consists of 32 cells in total and particularly 16 cells of Sylver A43 VLS for MBDA
Aster 15 anti-aircraft/missile missiles for local and area defence (medium range) and 16 cells of Sylver A70 VLS for
SCALP Naval cruise missiles (see the
videofor Sylver VLS). The Aster 15 is vertically launched and autonomously guided with a maximum range of greater than 30km and a speed of higher than Mach 3. The missile provides protection to the vessel against a full spectrum of air threats such as anti-shipping missile including sea-skimming and high diver missiles, supersonic and subsonic missiles, anti-radiation missiles UAV and aircrafts (see
video) with a very high single shot probability . ASTER’s terminal dart is a lightweight, highly manoeuvring and agile missile equipped with a high-performance active RF seeker with capability against stealthy targets. Thanks to the unique combination of aerodynamic control and direct thrust vector control called “PIF-PAF, the missile is capable of high g manoeuvres. Together, these features give ASTER an unmatched hit-to-kill capability. The system has an extremely quick reaction time with high rate of fire and it provides full coverage under any kind of weather. There are propositions for a FREMM frigate with increased anti-aircraft capabilities with the replacement of the Sylver A43 and A70 VLS with the A50 that contains the larger Aster 30 missiles that provide long range interception capability for area defence. Both Aster 15 and 30 missiles featuring the same terminal dart. The Aster 30 has a two-stage propulsion system achieving the incredible speed of Mach 4.5 and the range of 100-120km.
As it was mentioned in the previous paragraph the armament includes 16 cells in two silos of Sylver A70 VLS for MBDA SCALP Naval cruise missiles (not the Moroccan vessel). The fire and forget missile is vertically launched and it provides an operational capability with long range metric precision strike against politically / military sensitive targets performing high survivability and it is deployable day/night under all environmental conditions. This stealthy missile has a range greater than 1,000km in a speed of approximately Mach 0.8 (see
video). The missile is guided by GPS and it flights very low following a path based on the terrain where the target is located in order to avoid to be intercepted or spotted. When the missile has approached the target, it climbs and then bunts into a dive and thus achieving better identification of the target and maximum penetration.
MM40 Exocet Block III SSM
The rest of the armament consists of eight (8)
MBDA MM-40 Exocet Block III guided anti-ship missiles with a range of more than 180 km carrying a warhead of 164 kg. The missile accepts also GPS guidance system waypoint commands which allow it to attack naval targets under different angles and to strike land targets as well. The missile guidance is inertial in mid-flight until turns on active radar late in its flight (active guidance) to the corresponding trigger point for the detection and locking of its target. In order to minimize the recognition from rival radar and infrared seekers and the subsequent attack of the projectile from the air defense around the target, the system maintains a very low altitude during ingress, staying 1–2 m above the sea surface (sea-skimming) while the speed is high approaching 0.9 Mach. Due to the effect of the radar horizon, this means that the target may not detect an incoming attack until the missile is only 6,000m from impact and thus it leaves little time for reaction of the target’s CIWS. The missile has low signature and it has enhanced target discrimination and ECCM making it very difficult to be intercepted.
Modified photo of Mohammed VI class frigate. Photo: Michel Floch
