Test success for DCNS and partners: FREMM frigate Aquitaine launches first torpedo

Teams from DCNS, the French Navy and defence procurement agency DGA recently completed a new test campaign aboard first-of-class FREMM multimission frigate Aquitaine, the last and most important being the first ever torpedo launch test from a FREMM frigate.

After demonstrating FREMM frigate Aquitaine’s compatibility with a 10-tonne Caïman helicopter (the French version of the Eurocopter/EADS NH90) in March, DCNS specialists spent several weeks putting the vessel’s combat system, which includes the torpedo launch control system, through its paces.

After validating the torpedo tube configuration and performing dry-run tests, the DCNS team conducted the torpedo launch test the 22nd of June. Using an exercise torpedo equipped with sensors and data loggers instead of a warhead, the launch was performed under otherwise operational conditions. The results validated the torpedo tube configuration’s compliance with the relevant specifications. Shipboard observation by DCNS specialists and the data gathered by the torpedo’s onboard sensors confirmed all key parameters including exit speed, angle of impact with the water, and torpedo behaviour and trajectory.

“First-of-class FREMM multimission frigate Aquitaine is designed to face all types of threats,” says Vincent Martinot-Lagarde, FREMM programme manager. “The success of the first torpedo launch test is an important milestone as it confirms the ASW capabilities of the ship and her combat system which was designed, developed and produced by DCNS,” he added. In addition to a leading role in the FREMM design programme, DCNS teams contributed, in cooperation with the DGA, to the design of the MU90 lightweight torpedo, the torpedo launch control system and the launch tubes.

                         

Teams from DCNS, the French Navy and defence procurement agency DGA recently completed a new test campaign aboard first-of-class FREMM multimission frigate Aquitaine, the last and most important being the first ever torpedo launch test from a FREMM frigate.

DCNS team conducted the torpedo launch test the 22nd of June. Using an exercise torpedo equipped with sensors and data loggers instead of a warhead, the launch was performed under otherwise operational conditions.

(Picture: DCNS)

                         

FREMM frigate Aquitaine is equipped with four launch tubes and will carry up to 19 MU90 torpedoes. Each torpedo weighs close to 300 kg. The MU90 design offers a top speed of over 55 knots, sophisticated target tracking and state-of-the-art stealth.

Thanks to the ASW sensors and weapons carried by her organic Caïman Marine/NH90 helicopter, her payload of MU90 torpedoes and great stealth, FREMM frigate Aquitaine offers ASW (anti-submarine warfare) capabilities that are as innovative as they are fearsome.

FREMM, a major programme for DCNS and partners

The French FREMM programme calls for 12 ships – 11 for the French Navy and one for the Royal Moroccan Navy.

FREMM frigates are among the most technologically advanced and competitively priced on the world market. These heavily armed warships are being built under DCNS prime contractorship to carry state-of-the-art weapons and systems including the Herakles multifunction radar, MdCN cruise missiles, Aster anti-air missiles, Exocet MM40 anti-ship missiles and MU90 torpedoes.

Thanks to their many innovations, FREMM multimission frigates can respond to all types of threats with unparalleled flexibility and availability. The first export sale, to the Royal Moroccan Navy, demonstrates that they also meet the needs and expectations of international client navies.

FREMM technical data

• Length overall: 142 m

• Beam: 20 m

• Displacement (approx.): 6,000 tonnes

• Max. speed: 27 knots

• Complement: 108 (including helicopter crew)

• Accommodation: 145 men and women

• Range: 6,000 nm (at 15 knots)

Andalucía, Costa de la Luz, Espana - Eight GR4 Tornados arrive in Gibraltar on Friday

The United Kingdom informed Spain some weeks ago of the military exercises which would be taking place in the Mediterranean

The armed forces on the rock say will be flying unarmed and carrying the minimum amount of aviation fuel to operate.

The Tornado can fire missiles with special precision and eight planes will be stationed on the Rock for ‘a month’, from where they will take part in the Mediterranean exercise on the high sea.

The eight GR4 Tornados will arrive from the Royal Air Force Ninth Squadron and their base in Norfolk.

The exercises over the Mediterranean will allow the pilots to ‘move the planes to their limits’. They will fly unarmed to lighten their weight and with as little fuel as possible.

British sources told Europa Press that the Mediterranean has been chosen because of the good weather conditions it offers.

Despite the fact that the planes will be parked at night at Gibraltar Airport, the Spanish Government has made no formal protest to the United Kingdom about the planes presence.

This despite the fact that the Spanish consider that the British slowly occupied the isthmus which now contains the airport. The isthmus was not mentioned in the 1704 Treaty of Utrecht.

Spanish diplomatic sources have said ‘The arrival and departure of British aircraft in Gibraltar ‘is not a motive for protest’, but they added that the lack of a protest has not changed the Spanish Governments position on the British ‘occupation’ of the isthmus one little bit.

The exercises will also see training for the SPAG Submarine Parachute Assistance Group, which is specialist in the rescue of the crew from British military submarines in an emergency.

The end of august will see more action from the Royal Navy, with the expected arrival of the destroyer HMS Diamond.