Article Posted on : - Feb 03, 2014

An illustration of FREMM frigate. A DCNS image

BREST, FRANCE (BNS): French shipbuilder DCNS has delivered the FREMM multi-role frigate to Morocco on January 30.

The warship, Mohammed VI, was handed over to Prince Moulay Rachid El Alaoui, brother of the King of Morocco in the presence of French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Patrick Boissier, Chairman & CEO of DCNS at the shipyard's Brest facility, the company said.

The construction of the state-of-the-art warship for the Royal Moroccan Navy began at DCNS's Lorient facility in December 2008. The ship was floated out of its construction dock in September 2011 and began sea trials in April 2013.

The warship is the second vessel of this type designed and built by DCNS in a production run of 12 ships -- 11 for France and one for Morocco. The French Navy received the first vessel of the series in Nov. 2012.

The Mohammed VI benefits from the same technological and production innovations as the FREMM frigates for the French Navy, DCNS said, adding that the Royal Moroccan Navy will acquire the ship's weapon systems and munitions directly from its own selected suppliers.

The combat system of Mohammed VI is designed to deploy one 76-mm main gun, 8 Exocet MM40 anti-ship missiles, 19 anti-submarine torpedoes and 16 Aster anti-air missiles.

The FREMM family of frigates with technically advanced features is designed to counter threats emanating from air, sea or land. With a displacement of 6,000 tons and a length of 142 m, the vessel can cruise at a top speed of 27 knots.

Each warship is capable of carrying state-of-the-art weapons and systems. The sensor suite of the frigate is designed around the Herakles multifunction radar with a range of more than 250 kilometres.

Morocco is the first international customer of the warship.