DCNS sails ahead!
DCNS has floated the French Navy’s FREMM multi-mission frigate Auvergne in Lorient. This achievement took place on 2 September and marked an important step in the construction of the “most modern front-line ship of the 21st century”. The FREMM Auvergne is the sixth frigate in the programme and fourth of the series ordered by OCCAr on behalf of the DGA (the French defence procurement agency) for the French Navy. With three FREMMs currently under construction in DCNS’ Lorient site, DCNS is accelerating the production speed in order to deliver six FREMMs to the French Navy before mid2019. Two additional frigates equipped with strengthened anti-aircraft capacities will be delivered before 2022. Two further units have also been sold to international clients; The Royal Moroccan Navy and the Egyptian Navy.
“The floating of the FREMM Auvergne, after the delivery of the FREMM Tahya Misr to the Egyptian Navy and the delivery of the FREMM Provence in June, demonstrate DCNS’s ability to successfully achieve a serial production”, explains Anne Bianchi,
On13 October in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), the President of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Dr Turki bin Saud Mohamed Al Saud, in the presence of Prince Muhammad bin Salman and of the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, signed a cooperation agreement with the Chairman and CEO of DCNS, Hervé Guillou. The goal of this agreement is “to foster the development of a Research and Development centre dedicated to the naval and maritime domain.”