Morocco to buy FREMM

From Defense Aerospace

New Success for DCNS in Morocco

(Source: DCNS; issued Oct. 23, 2007)

PARIS --- In the course of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's recent state visit to Morocco, the Kingdom's highest authorities confirmed an agreement between the two countries to provide the Royal Moroccan Navy with a FREMM multi-mission frigate.

This multi-mission front-line fighting ship will expand the Navy's operational capabilities, particularly for anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine missions. In addition to reduced crewing (a little over 100 officers and sailors), the ship will benefit from the many advances arising from the FREMM programme to produce a new generation of front-line vessels for the French Navy.

Jean-Marie Poimbœuf, Chairman & CEO of DCNS, said: "We welcome the decision by Morocco's highest authorities in favour of the DCNS-designed FREMM frigate to modernise their fleet. Morocco is our first international customer for this new-generation vessel. This success opens up new business opportunities for this type of vessel as navies around the world seek to renew and modernise their fleets. Ongoing cooperation with Morocco is a key factor as we pursue development with new customers, particularly in the Mediterranean and the Middle East."

The FREMM programme — Europe's most ambitious naval cooperation programme ever — calls for 27 multi-mission frigates for France and Italy. The 6,000-tonne vessels will be delivered in anti-submarine, anti-surface, anti-air and land strike versions to meet the client navies' specific needs.

The FREMM frigates for the French Navy are being built under DCNS prime contractorship. These heavily armed ships will carry state-of-the-art weapons and systems including the Herakles multifunction radar, MU90 torpedoes and Exocet MM40 and Aster 15 missiles.

The first French FREMM frigates are under construction at DCNS's Lorient shipyard. Other DCNS shipyards and plants are also contributing to the programme, along with a large number of partners and subcontractors.