Written by D-Mitch
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| Frigate Aquitaine, FREMM. Photo: DCNS |
Aquitaine class is the French variant of the FRigate European Multi-Mission (FREMM) class, a class of frigates designed by the French DCNS and the Italian Ficantieri in a joint program to replace the existing destroyers and frigates within the French and Italian navies. The frigates between the two navies share some general characteristics, weapons and systems but also have several differences in the equipment related to propulsion system, electronic equipment and weapons following the different requirements of both navies. Thus, the Italian Navy is building two variants, one for ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) role and one for GP (General Purpose) role. However the differences between these Italian variants are focused basically only in some of the main weapon systems and specifically in the guns and missiles. The GP versions are equipped with a 5in (127mm) gun on the bow deck while the ASW versions retain the 3in (76mm) gun and they are equipped also with four MILAS ASW missiles. Both the two Italian variants will be analyzed in another article. In contrast, the French Navy is acquiring only a multi-mission variant (for the moment) with advanced ASW capabilities as the vessels are equipped with towed sonar array and the capability for land attacks.
