Defence and intervention frigate
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Frégates de taille intermédiaire |
| Builders | DCNS |
| Operators |  French Navy |
| Preceded by | Template:Sclass- |
| Built | 2018+ |
| In commission | 2023+ |
| Planned | 5 |
The Frégates de taille intermédiaire (frigates of intermediate size) or FTI are future frigates of first rank of the national navy (France). The program consists of five copies, with commissioning announced from 2023 onwards.
History
The Intermediate Frigate (FTI) program responds to the need for a fleet of fifteen first-class frigates and allows the French Navy to operate in a crisis zone, as recommended in the White Paper on Defense and National Security of 2013. These frigates join the ten examples of the Aquitaine and Horizon classes.
Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announces the launch of this program on 29 May 2015 on the naval aviation base in Lann-Bihoué (Ploemeur, Morbihan). A total of five ships should be produced, the first taking the place within the last three planned Aquitaine Class frigates.
The FTIs, of a contained size, would better correspond to the demands of the export markets according to the Directorate-General for Armaments and also make it possible to maintain the development and production capacities of the French shipyards.
These ships will replace the La Fayette class frigates ship for ship, currently used as first rank frigates but considered to be insufficiently armed. A modernization of this class is planned, awaiting delivery of the first intermediate size frigate in 2023.
According to Admiral Bernard Rogel and the Direction générale de l'Armement, the latter would be endowed with significant anti-aircraft capabilities with active antenna radar and fixed planes, anti-submarine means (helicopter and towed sonar ), and would have a displacement of 4000 to 4500 tonnes.