Fdi admiral ronarc'h class frigate

The defense and intervention frigate, or FDI, is a so-called "first rank" frigate of the French Navy.

It will replace the Lafayette-type frigates commissioned in the mid-1990s.

 These frigates can displace 4,460 tons when fully loaded. 122 meters long and 17.7 meters wide, they can reach 27 knots for a range of 5,000 nautical miles (at 15 knots). The crew consists of 125 sailors, the total capacity being 150 people.

The great specificity of these so-called "digital" frigates, prepared for digital warfare, is to offer an inverted bow. Its mast, of nearly 150 tonnes, is its nerve center. It is, moreover, assembled not at the end, but during the process of laying the frigate on hold.

Thales's brand new Sea Fire 500 radar, mounted on the single mast, allows aerial surveillance up to 500 km and surface surveillance up to 80 km.

The armament is equipped with a SETIS combat management system, a 76 mm Otobreda cannon, two remotely operated 20 mm cannons, a 16-cell Sylver A50 vertical launch system (Aster 3019 surface-to-air missiles, Exocet MM40 missiles) and two twin torpedo tubes for MU9020.

These frigates are also equipped for anti-submarine warfare (Kingklip Mark 1122 hull sonar) with an improved CAPTAS-4 towed sonar (which is already found on the FREMM).

The Amiral Ronarc'h class can carry an NH90 NFH helicopter and a rotary-wing drone.

A total of five units are planned for the French Navy, between 2024 and 2030.