Design phase continuation for new French carrier as FDI programme offers mixed bag
An image of how the new French carrier might look. (Image: Naval Group)
A flurry of announcements in recent days have detailed the structure of France’s new carrier programme and progress on the FDI frigate build.
Recent progress on France’s key next-generation carrier and FDI frigate programmes revealed additional details on design phases and vessel construction respectively. However, the delivery timeline for the first-in-class FDI vessel, the future FNS Amiral Ronarc’h, appears to have slipped slightly to the right.
On 30 March, it was revealed that the French government inaugurated ‘a new design platform’ for the next-generation carrier bringing together teams from Naval Group, Chantiers de l’Atlantique and TechnicAtome, while also announcing the notification of the brief preliminary design contract. A JV between Naval Group and Chantiers de l’Atlantique, under a 65-35% split, was formally
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