First steel cut at Lorient for French Horizon frigate

Sea Power, Jun 2002 by Preston, Antony

SEA POWER INTERNATIONAL

Antony Preston, a London-based naval analyst and broadcaster, is cofounder of the international newsletter NAVI NT

The first steel for the Forbin, a new frigate under construction for the French Navy, has been cut at DCN's Lorient shipyard, marking the long-awaited start of Horizon construction. The 8 April ceremony, an important milestone for the Franco-Italian program, was attended by representatives of the French and Italian defense procurement agencies DGA and Navarm, and of the two navies, plus senior executives from the major contractors. The ceremony also marked the first time that two free world countries followed through on plans to jointly develop and build sophisticated frontline fighting ships. For that reason alone, the start of the Forbin construction was an important first in defense cooperation, and validates the already close collaboration between the French and Italian naval shipbuilding industries. The French and Italian governments signed a contract with prime contractor Horizon SAS for the development and construction of four newgeneration anti-air warfare (AAW) frigates, two for each navy. The French vessels, Forbin and Chevalier Paul, which will replace the elderly DDGs Suffren and Duquesne, are being built at DCN's Lorient shipyard and will be delivered in late 2006 and mid-2008, respectively. The two Italian frigates will replace the DDGs Ardito and Audace. One will be built at the Fincantieri shipyards in Riva Trigoso south of Genoa, the other at Muggiano in La Spezia; they will be delivered in mid-2007 and early 2009, respectively.

Horizon SAS, a joint venture created in October 2000 by DCN and Thales in France, will act as program industrial prime contractor in France; Fincantieri and Finmeccanica will serve in the same role in Italy. The Horizon frigates are frontline fighting ships designed primarily to provide anti-air defense for local area cover or extended cover against saturation missile attacks.

The primary mission for the ships and their powerful antisubmarine warfare (ASW) and AAW self-defense systems will be the protection of carrier groups-e.g., when the French vessels escort the Charles de Gaulle or the Italian vessels escort the Giuseppe Garibaldi or the new Andrea Doria.

With a displacement of 6,500 tons, an overall length of 150 meters, and a maximum speed of 29 knots, the new AAW frigates will provide remarkable combat capabilities and firepower. Their combat systems, now being developed under a European cooperative effort, will feature the PAAMS (Principal AAW Missile System) AAW missile system and the SLAT anti-torpedo system. The frigates also are being designed for full compliance with the latest international standards, for environmental protection, active and passive safety, the automation of management and control functions, and crew habitability and comfort.

In addition to giving both navies a modern AAW capability, the significance of the Horizon program is that it provides a first glimpse of the emerging new structure of European naval shipbuilding, an industry led by 21stcentury companies working in close cooperation with major industrial contractors.

Related Note: The defense ministers of France and Italy, and the U.K. Secretary of State for Defence, met earlier this year to sign a purchase agreement for seven PAAMS suites. The systems are intended for the second French Horizon (Chevalier Paul), the second Italian Orizzonte type, and five new Royal Navy's destroyers: Dauntless, Diamond, Dragon, Defender, and Duncan. All seven ships are scheduled to enter service between 2006 and 2009. The three-nation agreement follows an initial contract placed by the DGA in 1999, on behalf of the three participating navies, for the three first-of-class ships.