Navy Recognition was recently invited by DCNS to visit their Lorient (Brittany) based shipyard. The Lorient site specializes in surface vessel. It was the birthplace of many French Navy vessels such as Aviso type ships, the La Fayette class of frigates (and its export derivatives) and even several classes of cruisers before and after World War II. We also took this rare opportunity to sit down and ask a few questions to Vincent Martinot-Lagarde, FREMM Programs Manager.
[...]
FREMM Modular Construction in 4 steps
There are 4 main steps in the construction of FREMM Frigates...
[...]
Q&A with Vincent Martinot-Lagarde, FREMM Programs Manager
NR: Is there any US content onboard the FREMM Frigates?
VML: A few sub-systems components are subject to ITAR regulations but there are no American suppliers as far as main systems are concerned. However if a customer requires, DCNS is able to integrate US systems onboard FREMM Frigates: For example for its FREMM (ed. note: Mohamed VI), Morocco requested part of the communication system to be supplied by Harris Corporation to retain commonality with other vessels in the Royal Moroccan Navy fleet.

NR: Is the current crew of 108 sailors a temporary “minimum” crew?
VML: This is an important issue for the French Navy and the “optimized crew” of 108 is its own requirement. Following the first trials and anti-submarine exercises, this crew number has been validated by the French Navy. The maintenance tasks load onboard FREMM are significantly reduced. The other focus was the automatization of various systems such as the CMS (combat management system), surveillance systems or command systems.

NR: Will the French Navy possibly increase the requirement in SYLVER (VLS) cells for its future FREDA (Air-defense FREMM) from 32 cells to 40 or 48 cells?
VML: I am not aware of anything new regarding this topic. Today, the FREDA is compatible with SYLVER A50 (ed. note: VLS system), compatible with ASTER 15 and 30 (ed. note: Surface to air missile)

NR: Currently, could a third VLS row be fitted on Aquitaine class Frigates?
VML: It is something DCNS could study, however today we mostly study four SYLVER silos configurations, therefore 32 missiles. On the FREMMs offered to Greece, the customer had a requirement for MICA VL so we studied a design with VLS cells located on the side of the helicopter hangar. There is always a way to adapt a design to accommodate more missiles, physically we can do many things with a surface vessel, however you have to consider the price the customer is ready to pay for such adaptations. The economic balance is to have an adaptable base and this base right now consists in a four SYLVER silos architecture and a CMS capable to accommodate several types of missiles and to adapt to future missiles.

NR: Was the FREMM-ER concept with SF500 radar designed by the DCNS R&D office to answer the French Navy FREDA requirement specifically?
VML: It is a solution to answer the improvement requirements of the French Navy, but also the requirements of foreign navies. The year 2013 will be decisive for this concept.
Read the rest of the report @ Navy Recognition

bakal dilirik gak ya sehabis PKR 105?