FREMM (class)

History

In developing a new, modern, stealth-oriented guided missile frigate warship for the French and Italian navies, the two European powers joined forces to develop the "FREMM Multipurpose Frigate". The type will be required to perform multiple fleet-dependent and fleet-independent roles, such as airspace blockade, submarine hunting, and land attack.

Three different shapes were originally envisioned, one serving each named role in a sense, but a general hull type was eventually settled on for airspace blockade and submarine hunting missions.

These ships blur the line between frigates and destroyers, and are therefore referred to in some sources as both.

A total of 27 FREMM ships were originally planned, 17 for the French Navy ("Aquitaine class") and 10 for the Italian Navy ("Begamini class"). Due to budget constraints, the French quickly revised their pledge to just eight.

The French group's lead ships became the FS Aquitane and the Italian's Bergamini.

Construction of these classes began in 2007, with the first ship commissioned in 2012. The French navy used such ships as successors to the Georges Leygues and Cassard classes, while Italy followed suit and used the design as the successors to the Soldi and Maestrale classes.

The two countries have slightly different designs: the Italian version at 6700 tons is slightly heavier than the French version at 6000 tons. The Italian is also longer at 474 feet (vs. 466 feet), slightly thinner at 65 feet (vs. 66 feet), and has a deeper draft at 17 feet (vs. 16 feet).

The French version is powered by CODLOG (combined diesel-electric or gas), while the Italian version uses a CODLAG (combined diesel-electric and gas) arrangement. The gas turbine works with an electric motor and a diesel generator, while the bow thruster allows fine-tuned maneuvering in two situations, and both are set to achieve maximum efficiency for the desired action: high-speed sprinting or general cruising. French ships can reach speeds of over 27 knots, while Italian ships can reach speeds of over 30 knots.

The French design has a range of 6,000 nautical miles and the Italian design has a range of 6,800 nautical miles.

The Aquitane-class ships have a crew of about 145, while the Bergamini-class ships have a crew of 199. The Thales sonar system is embedded in the airframe of both designs, and both carry the Leonardo NA-25 DARDO-F Fire Control System (FCS) for the 76mm weapon. A Thales towed sonar array is also standard in between. Electronic warfare (EW) is also shared, including various digital customizations as well as jammers and decoys.

Above the stern section is a combined helipad/hangar capable of servicing two medium naval helicopters operated by two naval divisions.

Both designs are based on the Italian 76mm OTO-Melara ultra-fast turret deck gun and 2 x EuroTorp B515/3 torpedo launchers (torpedo series MU90).

The French warship has a 16-unit MDBA SYLVER A43 Vertical Launch System (VLS) for the Aster 15-series Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) family - this weapon can be used against both enemy aircraft and incoming missiles threat from afar. Another 16-unit MBDA SYLVER VLS unit houses the British, French and Italian "SCALP" naval cruise missiles for land attack capability. The MBDA MM40 "Flying Fish" is mounted on a launch vehicle for anti-ship operations and land attack.

The 3 x 20mm Nexter "Narwhal" system is used as the ship's close-in digital weapons system (CIWS).

Italian ships carry MBDA SYLVER A50 VLS missile packages for Aster 15 and Aster 30 series missiles. It retains the space required for the second 16-unit retrofit, but is currently not in use. A second 76mm turret deck gun is also mounted aft on some anti-submarine warfare (ASW) versions.

The first gun was replaced by a 127mm/64 caliber turret unit. The ships also carry 2 x OTO-Melara multipurpose missile launchers, 8 x MBDA Teseo/Otomat Mk-2/A Block 4 anti-ship/land attack missiles and 2 x LRAD SITEP MASS CS-424 sonic cannons.

The French Navy operates FREMM in six anti-submarine warfare and two anti-aircraft (AA) forms for a total of eight ships: Aquitaine (D650), Provence (D652), Languedoc (D653), Auvergne ( D654), Brittany (D655), Normandy, Alsace and Lorraine. Aquitane was commissioned on 23 November 2012 and is headquartered in Brest. The Auvergne was commissioned on April 11, 2007.

Brittany is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018 and Normandy in 2019. Alsace and Lorraine are scheduled to arrive in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

For the Italians, they took over four FREMM frigates ASW livery and six General Purpose (GP) livery for a total of 10 ships in service: Carlo Bergamini (F590), Virginio Fasan (F591), Carlo Margottini (F592) , Carabiniere (F593), Alpnio (F594), Luigi Rizzo (F595), Federico Martinengo (F596), Antonio Marceglia (F597), Spartaco Schergat (F598) and Emilio Bianchi (F599). Carlo Bergamini went live on May 29, 2013, and Luigi Rizzo went live on April 20, 2017.

Martinengo, Marceglia, Schergat and Bianchi are scheduled to go live in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

In addition to being used by the French and Italian navies, FREMM ships were commissioned by the Egyptian Navy (Tahya Misr, 2016) and the Royal Moroccan Navy (Mohammad VI, 2014).

Australia, Canada, Greece and the US are still likely to commission FREMM designs.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Wing