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Jura said:

here's what NavalToday had to say:
DCNS unveils design of French Navy’s new medium size frigate

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French SSN through-life support arrangements deliver increased availability
The French Navy's operational Rubis-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs, or SNAs [sous-marin nucléaire d'attaque]) are achieving availability levels above 80% despite the youngest boat now being 23 years old, the Marine Nationale and DCNS have told IHS Jane's.

Six Rubis-class SNAs, commissioned between 1993 and 2003, are in service. The class will be gradually phased out over the next decade as the replacement Suffren-class boats enter service; first-of-class Rubis is due to decommission in 2017, with the remaining boats to progressively retire through to 2029.
Out of the six Rubis-class boats, four are maintained in the operational cycle, one is in deep refit, and the other in a routine intermediate overhaul period. SNA through-life support (TLS) is being delivered by DCNS under the terms of a five-year contract which became effective in April 2015.

According to Franck Ferrer, DCNS's SNA programme director, the TLS contract mechanism - which measures performance and payment against SNA availability - has incentivised DCNS to invest in both facilities and process. "Despite the global ageing of the fleet, we are still improving boat availability," he said. "That is a factor of both the soundness of the original design, and the way the [TLS] contract is structured."

The management organisation implemented by DCNS has introduced a fully dedicated team focused on improving fleet availability. In addition, the company has reorganised resources and infrastructure at Toulon to optimise maintenance and support outputs.

As prime contractor to the navy's fleet support service [Service de soutien de la flotte - SSF), DCNS has organised its operation into five activity lines: programme management; shipyard; crew support; engineering; and logistics.

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French SSN through-life support arrangements deliver increased availability

The French Navy's operational Rubis-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs, or SNAs [sous-marin nucléaire d'attaque]) are achieving availability levels above 80% despite the youngest boat now being 23 years old, the Marine Nationale and DCNS have told IHS Jane's.

Six Rubis-class SNAs, commissioned between 1993 and 2003, are in service. The class will be gradually phased out over the next decade as the replacement Suffren-class boats enter service; first-of-class Rubis is due to decommission in 2017, with the remaining boats to progressively retire through to 2029.
Out of the six Rubis-class boats, four are maintained in the operational cycle, one is in deep refit, and the other in a routine intermediate overhaul period. SNA through-life support (TLS) is being delivered by DCNS under the terms of a five-year contract which became effective in April 2015.

According to Franck Ferrer, DCNS's SNA programme director, the TLS contract mechanism - which measures performance and payment against SNA availability - has incentivised DCNS to invest in both facilities and process. "Despite the global ageing of the fleet, we are still improving boat availability," he said. "That is a factor of both the soundness of the original design, and the way the [TLS] contract is structured."

The management organisation implemented by DCNS has introduced a fully dedicated team focused on improving fleet availability. In addition, the company has reorganised resources and infrastructure at Toulon to optimise maintenance and support outputs.

As prime contractor to the navy's fleet support service [Service de soutien de la flotte - SSF), DCNS has organised its operation into five activity lines: programme management; shipyard; crew support; engineering; and logistics.

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A South Korean court has picked Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to be the preferred bidder for STX France, with the French government keen to see naval specialist DCNS buying a minority stake of the shipyard, afternoon daily Le Monde reported Tuesday.

“The courts in Seoul had little choice,” the daily reported. “Fincantieri was the only one to make a last and final offer by the due date, Monday Dec. 26.”

Ownership of STX France, based at Saint-Nazaire, northern France, is a sensitive issue as its shipyard is the only one seen to be large enough to build an aircraft carrier, and there is deep concern over foreign control.

The Korean parent company, STX Offshore and Shipbuilding, holds 66 percent of the French subsidiary and filed for bankruptcy protection last year.

Fincantieri is a major European commercial shipbuilder, but there is anxiety in France that the Trieste-based firm agreed to transfer technology to China State Shipbuilding Corp. when the two companies set up a joint venture in June.

France “would like to see a widening of ownership of the French subsidiary to include the naval shipbuilder DCNS, which it controls,” Le Monde reported. That would limit Fincantieri’s influence as France holds a direct stake of 33 percent in STX France and DCNS is a state-owned company.

There is also legislation under the Montebourg decree, which allows Paris to block a foreign acquisition of assets deemed to be of strategic importance.

DCNS would consider taking up a stake in STX as the naval company has a “strategic” interest, DCNS Chairman Hervé Guillou said Oct. 12. The warship builder would rely on the STX yard to build the next helicopter carrier or aircraft carrier, so acquisition by a Chinese company would be a cause for concern.

Fincantieri declined comment, according to Reuters.

Paris bought a blocking 33.3 percent stake in STX France, when then-President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the purchase in response to the acquisition of 66.6 percent by the Korean group in 2008.

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Jura said:

Oct 19, 2016

this vid appeared (says Published on Jan 2, 2017):

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French shipbuilder DCNS has released a promotional CGI video of its new frigate Belharra performing a multitude of tasks and destroying another ship with its guns and missiles.

The video also shows the frigate deploying unmanned aerial vehicles and torpedoes.

To be used by the French Navy as the new FTI (Fregate de Taille Intermediaire) medium-size frigate, the 4,000-tonne front-line frigate will be equipped for anti-submarine warfare with widened self-defence and commando-projection capacities.

Hoping to build on the international market success of the La Fayette, which the new frigate is expected to replace, DCNS is also offering an export version of the new frigate. As the company explained, the name BELH@RRA is a reference to Europe’s only giant wave: the Belharra. The first “a” transformed into an @ makes reference to the highly digital nature of the frigate.

The French Navy envisions to operate five frigates of the class with first delivery to the navy expected in 2023.

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France receives two more Reapers, deploys them to Niger

France has received an additional two General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and deployed them to Africa, a French military source told IHS Jane's.

The UAVs arrived at Base Aérienne 101 in Niamey, Niger, at the end of 2016 where the Escadron de Drone 1/33 Belfort has been operating three other MQ-9s since January 2015 in support of the country's Operation 'Barkhane' in the Sahel region.

It will take a few weeks before the two new Reapers will be declared fully operational as they will have to be reassembled, and tested on the ground and in flight. The arrival of the UAVs has resulted in the French Air Force withdrawing its two Harfang UAVs from Niamey back to France. Harfangs are now mostly used for training and surveillance during high profile public events.

Due to technical and legal constraints, the Belfort squadron has been unable to fly its Reapers in French national airspace. However, this situation is expected to change with the arrival of a sixth Reaper and a control shelter in Cognac, the home base of 1/33 Squadron, later in January. This sixth UAV will be used for training at Cognac. Up until this point, the squadron has had to do all its training from Niamey.

Another important milestone for the French Reaper force was reached at the end of December 2016 when a first French crew was authorised to perform take-offs and landings of the UAV. Until now civilian contractors from General Atomics have been conducting French take-offs and landings

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