La Fayette Class Frigate
The La Fayette class (also known as FL-3000 for “Frégate Légère de 3,000 tonnes“, or FLF for Frégate Légère Furtive) is a class of general purpose frigates built by DCNS and operated by the French Navy.
Derivatives of the type are in service in the navies of Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Taiwan.
La Fayette Class Frigate were originally known as “stealth frigates” due to their unique stealth design at the time. Their reduced radar cross section is achieved by a clean superstructure compared to conventional designs, angled sides and radar absorbent material, a composite material of wood and glass fibre as hard as steel, light, and resistant to fire. Most modern combat ships built since the introduction of the La Fayette class have followed the same principles of stealth.
All information gathered by the onboard sensors is managed by the Information Processing System, the electronic brain of the operation centre of the ship. It is completed by an electronic command aid system.
La Fayette Class Frigates are designed to accommodate a 10-tonne (9.8-long-ton) helicopter in the Panther or NH90 range (though they are also capable of operating the Super Frelon and similar heavy helicopters). These helicopters can carry anti-ship missiles AM39 or AS15, and they can be launched during sea state five or six due to the Samahé helicopter handling system. France ordered five ships of the La Fayette class in 1988, the last of which entered service in 2002.
Type: | General purpose frigate |
Displacement: | ·3,200 t (3,100 long tons) ·3,800 t (3,700 long tons) fully loaded |
Length: | 125 m (410 ft 1 in) |
Beam: | 15.4 m (50 ft 6 in) |
Draught: | 4.1 m (13 ft 5 in) |
Propulsion: | 4 diesel SEMT Pielstick 12PA6V280 STC2, 21,000 hp (16,000 kW) |
Speed: | 25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph) |
Range: | ·4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) ·9,000 nmi (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Endurance: | 50 days of food |
Boats & landing | 2 × ETN boats |
Capacity: | 350 t (390 short tons) of fuel, 80 m3 (2,800 cu ft) of kerosene, 60 t (66 short tons) of potable water |
Complement: | ·12 officers ·68 petty officers ·61 enlisted |
Aircraft carried: | 1 × helicopter (Panther or NH90) |
Sensors and | ·1 × DRBN34 navigation radar ·1 × DRBN34 landing radar ·1 × Air/Surface DRBV 15C sentry radar ·1 × firing control radar for the 100 mm gun ·1 × CN2 firing control radar ·1 × Saïgon ARBG 1 radio interceptor ·1 × ARBR 21 radar interceptor ·2 × Dagaie Mk2 AMGL-1C chaff launcher ·1 × AN/SLQ-25 Nixie tugged noise maker ·1 × Prairie-Masker noise reduction system ·1 × Integrated Shipboard Communication System ISCS (SNTI 120 ch.) ·1 × SEAO/OPSMER Naval command support system ·1 × Syracuse II satellite transmission system ·1 × Inmarsat navigation system ·1 x BlueWatcher sonar (Surcouf only)[1] ·1 x KingKlip Mk 2 hull-mounted sonar (fitted to Courbet; to be fitted to La Fayette and Aconit by 2023) |
Armament: | ·Anti-ship; ·8 × Exocet MM40 block II anti-ship missiles (to upgrade to Block 3C variant on Courbet, La Fayette and Aconit by 2023) ·Guns; ·1 × 100 mm TR automatic gun ·2 × 20 mm modèle F2 guns ·CIWS; ·1 × Crotale CN2 CIWS ·2 x 6 Sadral launchers with Mistral Mk 3 SAM/SSM (replaced Crotale on Courbet; to be fitted to La Fayette and Aconit by 2023) |
Armour: | On sensitive areas (munition magazine and control centre) |
