Thales to equip France’s FREMM frigates with radar, sonar, communications systems

Thales has signed a contract to equip France’s additional three FREMM frigates with radar, infrared search and track, sonar and communications systems - bringing to 11 the number of French multi-mission frigates the company will supply. “This latest contract reinforces Thales’s position as a key partner in developing the most advanced naval warfare systems available and further strengthens FREMM’s future,” said Pierre-Eric Pommellet, Thales Senior Vice President in charge of Defence Mission Systems, during the signature with Bernard Planchais, DCNS Executive Vice-President. FREMM is the European programme for multi-mission frigates, launched in 2005 by France and Italy. Run by OCCAR (European joint armaments cooperation organisation), the objective of this programme is to replace existing navy frigates with new 6,000-tonne frigates, equipped with cutting-edge warfare systems. French Defence Minister Hervé Morin announced in October 2009 that France had ordered these three additional navy frigates, bringing its total order to 11, alongside 6 frigates already ordered by Italy. The newly signed contract takes into account new allocations for the FREMM frigates, namely 9 anti-submarine (ASM) versions and 2 anti-air versions (FREDA). The Thales-Elettronica joint venture, SIGEN, oversees the provision of next generation electronic warfare systems under a separate set of contracts. As part of this partnership, Thales supplies FREMM frigates with detection, scrambling, and decoy systems for detecting threats, intercepting communications, and providing self-defence. Prime contracting duties for FREMM are handled by DCNS in France, and by Orrizonte Sistemi Navali in Italy.