Defense Technology International - January/February 2008 - (Page 34) DISPATCHES GLOBAL TAKING SHAPE Fremm frigates evolve under watchful national partners CHRISTINA MACKENZIE•LORIENT, FRANCE essons learned by France and Italy in their partnership on the Horizon frigate, notably that building identical ships can cost more rather than less, are being applied to their partnership on the Fremm frigate. “The French and Italian Fremms are more or less the same on the outside, but each shipyard has developed the interior independently,” says Jean-Philippe Leleux, deputy director of the program at L ASW and six general-purpose versions. Leleux notes that cooperation this time between the nations covers naval architecture and common systems and equipment, notably the electric motors, gas turbines and rudder roll-stabilization systems (the first time such a system will be installed on a French military ship), as well as combat equipment systems like the integrated sonar suite. They jointly negotiate specifications DCNS CONCEPT France and Italy are working together to develop Fremm frigates that are effective and cost-efficient to build. DCNS, which is designing and building the French ships. Fremm is a French and Italian acronym for multimission frigate. The project is managed by Occar, the EU organization, based in Bonn, for joint armament cooperation. Occar awarded Europe’s biggest naval shipbuilding contract in 50 years to DCNS subsidiary Armaris and Orizzonte, a joint venture between Italy’s Fincantieri and Finmeccanica. The €3.5-billion ($5.2-billion) first-tranche contract for the French navy is for eight ships, of which six are anti-submarine warfare (ASW) versions and two are land-attack versions. The Italian navy has ordered 10: four 34 with suppliers and share development costs. The System Design Review (SDR) was frozen in October 2006 for the platform, while the combat systems and integrated warship SDRs were signed o in May 2007. The Critical Design Review will be this year. Initial plates for the first French Fremm, an ASW version named Aquitaine that’s due to be delivered in 2011, were cut in March 2007. The challenge for DCNS, Leleux says, is to deliver eight frigates between 2011 and 2015. Some of the 16-meter-long, 300-ton hull blocks will be built abroad, probably in Eastern Europe, to save time and money. The 10 blocks, each of which takes three weeks to build, will be welded by hand, but the decks can be welded semi-automatically, says PierreLuc Gueguen, production director. “Fremm 3 will be ‘as built,’ that is with adaptations made after lessons learned from vessels 1 and 2,” Gueguen says. “We’re expecting far fewer changes thanks to virtual reality.” DCNS invested in a virtual reality laboratory, which employs the computer program used by Airbus to design aircraft, and by some Asian countries for military shipbuilding. The system means French customer representatives sit in front of a screen and seem to be in the ship. Design changes can be made and approved immediately. A second challenge, Leleux notes, was the “high level of technical performance of the ship, such as its stealth and acoustics.” The propeller, its structure, sources of internal noise and hydraulic capacities were studied to minimize radar signatures, while ensuring that the ship resists the explosion of a mine close by. The frigates will have a dual-engine system: gas turbine propulsion for maximum speed, diesel-electric propulsion when acoustic discretion is paramount. With the latter the maximum speed drops to 15 kt. from 27 kt. A third challenge lies in the automation required for a ship with a crew of 108, less than half that of the F67 Tourville-class and F70 George Leygues-class ASW frigates the Fremms will replace. Olivier Saint-Martin, the navy’s personnel director, tells DTI the crew numbers may be a little higher. “Reducing staff is an objective but given lessons learned from reduced crewing aboard other frigates, and the di culties it creates in the upkeep of ships, naval headquarters is trying to establish what a satisfactory level is.” One effect of reduced personnel is that the man-machine interface had to be rethought. “Before, there was one console dedicated to each task; now each console is multi-tasked,” says Christine Poulain, director of the combat management system. The design also addresses the issue of damage control with a small crew. Fire insulation is more e ective than on older ships, and the vessel is equipped with a sprinkler system similar to those in hotels and o ces. The combat system includes 16 Aster 15 anti-air missiles, but Fremm will be outfitted for the Aster 30 missile. It will also have a 4110 CL sonar, originally designed for the Horizon frigates, and a towed array sonar for ASW. I www.aviationweek.com/dti DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 http://www.aviationweek.com/dti
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