DEFEA 2021: Naval Group showcases FDI frigate and Gowind-class corvette


From 13th to 15th July 2021, Naval Group participates in the first edition of DEFEA, the Athens Defence Exhibition in Greece organised by the Hellenic Ministry of National Defence. Naval Group will showcase its state-of-the-art military ship offer, illustrated by the FDI frigate, the most modern new generation frigate. This is the French offer concerning the Greek procurement of four new frigates.


SAAB exhibits products and solutions for maritime defense IMDEX 2019 925 001The future Frigates for defence and intervention FDI (Picture source: Army Recognition)


During DEFEA, Naval Group reiterates its commitments to develop strategic partnerships with the Greek Industry and the Hellenic Navy. Naval Group submitted as part of the French Team with MBDA and Thales a comprehensive package designed to ensure Greece has the best capabilities in the shortest timeframe with optimised costs as well as a robust Hellenic Industry Participation plan.

Naval Group is one of the few companies in the world with the ability to deliver directly or in transfers of technology a complete range of warships with their combat systems and all the critical equipment necessary to engage naval power in a theatre of operations.

Naval Group’s booth on DEFEA will reflect this comprehensive offer with a focus on surface ships and innovative solutions.

The FDI frigate is the 5th generation of combat ship for naval supremacy and crisis management. This warship is designed for navies looking for a compact frigate able to perform a large range of missions stand-alone or within a task force either. Like the FREMM, the FDI frigate features high level capabilities in anti-air, antisurface, anti-submarine and asymmetric warfare domains, taking into account French Navy operational legacy acquired in wartime situation.

Its maximum speed is 27 knots and it has an autonomy of 45 days with operational availability of 3500 hours per year. The frigate can accommodate 125 men and women + 28 passengers and will be able to carry at the same time a helicopter (capacity of 10 t, the actual helicopter will weigh 5t) and an Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), developed as part of the SDAM program with Airbus Helicopters.

As the first digital frigate, FDI frigate integrates latest-generation systems around a naval digital distributed cloud architecture, natively cyber-secured and compatible with the new Information Technologies developments and evolutions and provides sailors with adapted services. Different versions are available to embrace the specific needs of each navy.

The French Navy will operate five FDI frigates. The first of them is already in production and will be delivered in 2024 and the next two in 2025.

The FDI HN will meet all the requirements of the Hellenic Navy and the first could be in service as soon as early 2025. Naval Group’s offer includes to build 3 of the 4 frigates in Greece.

The Gowind design is a family of steel monohull frigates, corvettes and offshore patrol vessels developed since 2006 by France's Naval Group, formerly known as DCNS, to conduct missions in littoral zone such as anti-submarine warfare (ASW). The Gowind family includes vessels with lengths from 85 to 111 metres (278 ft 10 in to 364 ft 2 in) and displacement from 1,000 tons to 3,100 tons.

Gowind® is a military-engineered compact surface combatant equipped with a set of state-of the-art, combat-proven anti-submarine, anti-surface and anti-aircraft systems to NATO standards. Gowind® takes the best of the latest technological advances developed and mastered by Naval Group for large frigates, in order to anticipate and meet future operational requirement. It integrates the latest generation of combat systems developed by Naval Group, SETIS®, the "Panoramic Sensors and Intelligence Module (PSIM)" - a combination of the integrated mast with its various sensors and the Operational Centre and associated technical premises - and the high level of integration, automation and user-friendliness of the Naval Group systems.

The Gowind® corvette is already sea proven with the Egyptian navy and after a first of class built in France in only 38 months, the rest of the series is successfully being built in Egypt.


SAAB exhibits products and solutions for maritime defense IMDEX 2019 925 001A model of Gowind-class corvette (Picture source: Army Recognition)