Article Posted on : - Apr 14, 2010

An artist's rendition of FREMM Frigate.

NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, FRANCE (BNS): Thales has signed a contract to equip France’s additional three FREMM frigates with radar, infrared search and track, sonar and communications systems

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).

“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, according to a news release by Thales Group.

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.

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.