European Naval Forces : News, Views and Discussion
- Thread starter RISING SUN
- Start date
(navalnews, sept.28)
Hellenic Navy Reveals The Names Of Its FDI HN Frigates
The Hellenic Navy (Πολεμικό Ναυτικό) revealed the names of its future FDI HN frigates currently under construction in France. The vessels will be known as the Kimon-class.
Hellenic Navy's FDI HN to be known as Kimon-class frigates
The Hellenic Navy announced that during the plenary meeting of the Supreme Naval Council on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, it was decided to name the three FDI HN Frigates that are being built in Lorient, France, as follows:
- FDI HN #1: FFG Kimon (ΚΙΜΩΝ)
- FDI HN #2: FFG Nearchos (ΝΕΑΡΧΟΣ)
- FDI HN #3: FFG Formion (ΦΟΡΜΙΩΝ)
Kimon (c. 510 – 450 BC) was an Athenian strategos (general and admiral) and politician. He is known for his bravery fighting in the naval Battle of Salamis (480 BC), during the Second Persian invasion of Greece.
Nearchos (c. 360 – 300 BC) was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. He is known for his celebrated expeditionary voyage starting from the Indus River, through the Persian Gulf and ending at the mouth of the Tigris River following the Indian campaign of Alexander the Great,
Phormio was an Athenian general and admiral before and during the Peloponnesian War. A talented naval commander, Phormio commanded at several famous Athenian victories in 428 BC.
Last edited:
(Newpost (Greece) sept.26)
[The Greek navy staff recommends the acquisition of a fourth Belharra-class frigate (French FDI)]
Activation of the option for the 4th Belharra the first order of business for the Navy: In the home stretch the modernization of MEKO followed by missile boats and submarines
Navy Executives have already come up with what the modernization will provide and set a "ceiling" of 500 million on the final cost.
[The Greek navy staff recommends the acquisition of a fourth Belharra-class frigate (French FDI)]
Activation of the option for the 4th Belharra the first order of business for the Navy: In the home stretch the modernization of MEKO followed by missile boats and submarines
Navy Executives have already come up with what the modernization will provide and set a "ceiling" of 500 million on the final cost.
High-Energy Laser Weapon Tested on a German Navy Frigate - Defense Update:
The German Armed Forces have recently fired a shipboard laser weapon against aerial targets. At the test the German frigate Sachsen successfully engaged drones at a short and very short range. Testing of the high-energy laser weapon will continue until mid-2023. These trials have now set the...
defense-update.com
The Dutch have annonced they are buying JASSM-ER for their F-35's, PULS MLRS for the army and Tomahawks for the navy.
In Dutch
In Dutch
The Indian Navy's Scorpène-class submarine "Kalvari".
The Romanian Navy is to acquire two Scorpène-class submarines
(defensa.com, may23)
The Romanian Parliament has authorised the purchase of two French Scorpène-class conventional submarines worth 2 billion euros, with which the Romanian Navy will recover the capacity it lost after the Soviet-built "Delfinul", which it used between 1985 and 1995, was decommissioned almost three decades ago.
This would be the first sale of submarines by Naval Group, the French state-owned shipbuilding company, in the demanding European market, dominated in recent years by its German competitor ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS). The tough competition to equip Romania's navy began in 2018, when it announced, to address security concerns in the Black Sea region, that it was considering the recovery of submarine capacity, lost in the mid-1990s when the short-lived Soviet-designed and built submarine "Delfinul" (Dolphin) of project 877, or Kilo according to NATO, was decommissioned.
At the time, however, the Romanian project could not go beyond a mere declaration of intent, largely because of the tight defence budget, which was not released until the start of the war in Ukraine. The programme was revived last year, with the prospect of a significant increase in military spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP from 2023. "The Black Sea is very crowded: it is full of 'sharks'," justified Vasile Dîncu, who was Romania's defence minister at the time.
After meeting with his French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu, in June 2022, Dîncu announced that a letter of intent had been signed for the purchase of at least one Scorpène-class submarine and helicopters. "We have started the procedures to present it to parliament," the politician told the Romanian press.
Russia's threat boosted
Although Dîncu resigned at the end of the year, his successor, Angel Tîlvăr, continued to try to provide the Romanian Navy, or Forțele Navale Române, with such a naval warfare capability. It thus submitted a request to the Romanian Parliament to authorise the purchase of "submarine-type vessels" to "carry out reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions, as well as 'combat actions' against enemy surface ships and submarines" whether in "territorial waters, international waters, hostile coastal areas or even in high-risk areas far from our own naval bases".
Finally, in a very favourable context, on 18 May, in the face of the threat from Putin's Russia, the Romanian Parliament gave the green light to the launch of a rather vague "submarines against surface and underwater threats" programme. Romanian media reports state that the Forțele Navale Române will be equipped with two Scorpène submarines within eight years, which seems to be the minimum number of units to provide such a capability, given the long maintenance cycles that affect this type of naval unit. The cost of this acquisition is estimated at 2 billion euros, a figure which, in addition to the two submarines, also includes the supply of torpedoes and countermeasures, as well as the initial logistical support and training of the personnel (technical and crew) who will operate them.
Naval Group currently offers three versions of this conventional submarine model: Scorpène Compact, dedicated to littoral operations, Scorpène Basic and Scorpène 2000. It is "stealthy, easy to use and autonomous thanks to its third-generation Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) system, which gives it 18 days of autonomy (submerged) at sea," the manufacturer stresses.
With a length of 60 to 82 metres, depending on the variant, and a displacement of up to 2,000 tonnes when submerged, the Scorpène is equipped with the Subtics combat system, six 533 mm torpedo tubes with 18 torpedoes and even MBDA SM39 Exocet anti-ship missiles.
In any case, this is a first step that opens negotiations between the Romanian Ministry of Defence and Naval Group, with the fear of a repeat of the case of the four French Gowind-class corvettes that Bucharest chose in 2019, and whose purchase, valued at 1.2 billion euros, to date remains unfinished (Julio Maíz). /deepl
