Naval Group selects FTI suppliers

Naval Group has initiated the process of selecting equipment suppliers for France's Frégate de Taille Intermédiaire (FTI) frigate programme, the company announced on 20 March.

The contract for the five FTIs was awarded to Naval Group by the French Defence Procurement Agency in April 2017. The first frigate is scheduled to be delivered to the French Navy in 2023.

The prime suppliers selected to date include Axima for heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems; CNIM for sonar hatches and torpedo hatches; Ixblue for navigation units and their computers; Leonardo for 76mm medium calibre artillery systems; MBDA for integration and services relating to missile-firing installations; Safran Electronics & Defense for the optronic identification system; and Thales for the sonar suite, the electronic warfare suite, the IFF and communications systems.

The French variant of the Belharra frigate has a displacement of 4,000 tonnes and has been developed for anti-submarine warfare. The vessel will be outfitted with self-defence and special forces projection capabilities and will integrate the new Thales Sea Fire four flat antenna radar, and MBDA's reconfigurable firing installations for Aster 30 and Exocet missiles.

Frédéric Massa, director of Naval Group purchasing, said: ‘We expect a lot from our suppliers. Their innovative and competitive solutions will contribute to delivering technological superiority in the theatre of operations.

'The success of the programme is dependent on them fulfilling their commitments: timely delivery of input data and equipment for which they are responsible, with the expected quality level. We therefore selected them for their capacity to deliver on this strategic programme for France.’