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The first signs are emerging that the French in the Australian submarine tender process hoodwinked Australian government politicians, including the Prime Minister. Just what knowledge defence officials had of the French government’s real intentions is likely to become a major issue. Last night before a Senate Committee we saw the French winning bidder DCNS back tracking on the clear promises both it and our government politicians had made — that 90 per cent of the work would take place in Australia. Before I set out the latest Senate revelations I want to go back to the time of the tender....

The French shipbuilder DCNS presented today the BELH@RRA frigate design – a new heavily-armed frigate made for the international market. The new design was unveiled today at the Euronaval Exhibition in Paris-Le Bourget. The new BELH@RRA class renews the heavily-armed 4,000-tonne frigate segment. It follows the company’s La Fayette-class frigates, of which over twenty units were built and are operational with four navies around the world. The BELH@RRA design is positioned between the 6,000-tonne FREMM multi-mission frigate segment and that of the 2,500- to 3,000-tonne GOWIND corvettes. This size class is suitable for navies looking for a compact frigate, capable...

<p>The French shipbuilder at the centre of a global submarine data leak scandal is threatening legal action today to prevent further publication of the information contained in 22,400 secret documents obtained by The Australian.</p>

Indian Navy seems to have suffered a huge setback after more than 22,000 pages of secret data related to the six Scorpene-class submarines being made by the French company DCNS in India was leaked, “The Australian” newspaper reported. The leaked data gives away the entire secret combat and performance capabilities of these submarines, and will completely negate their operational usefulness if China and Pakistan get access to the same. India is currently building six Scorpene-class submarines, named Project 75, in partnership with the French company DCNS under a $3.5-billion deal signed in 2005. These submarines are being built at Mazagon...

Australia's new submarines will need the range and endurance to patrol far out into the Pacific or Indian Oceans or up into the South China Sea. For that, a nuclear boat would be ideal. Nuclear subs - nukes - can travel fast and stay submerged almost indefinitely, without the need to come to periscope depth every few days to run a diesel engine to charge batteries. Submariners refer to this periodic need to come to the surface as the 'indiscretion rate'. It's when a submarine is most vulnerable to detection. Successive Australian governments have ruled out the nuclear option for...

According to well connected French financial newspaper La Tribune, France is proposing four more vessels to the Egyptian Navy: Two more Gowind class corvettes, one OPV and another patrol vessel. The Egyptian Navy future GOWIND class corvette. They will be fitted with 8x Exocet MM40 Block 3 anti-ship missiles, 16x VL MICA surface to air missiles (both by MBDA), Torpedoes, a 76mm main gun (Oto Melara) and 2x 20mm remote weapon stations. Image: DCNS If the proposal is accepted, the Egyptian Navy would have 11 french-built vessels in its fleet. Over the last year DCNS has established strategic relations with...

Egypt is in talks with France to buy two more naval corvettes, a French diplomat said Saturday, as Paris's Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian visited Cairo in an African tour. French shipbuilder DCNS had already signed a contract estimated at one billion euros ($1.1 billion) to supply four Gowind-class corvettes to Egypt, which also became the first country to purchase French Rafale jets. Le Drian, whose government has developed close ties with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, met the leader and his defence minister on Saturday morning. "There is a bid for two more corvettes; the discussions are ongoing," the...

The French company, DCNS, has released details of its plans for the new submarine it wants to build for Australia. It’s a 4000 tonne, conventionally powered design based on of its Barracuda nuclear powered attack submarine. DCNS will call the Australia version the Shortfin Barracuda after the local species PPP of the ferocious fish. DCNS says it’s “pre-concept design” is for the world’s most advanced conventional submarines. France, Germany and Japan are competing for the contract to build up to 12 submarines for the Royal Australian Navy worth more than $20 billion. DCNS Australia CEO Sean Costello said the new...

LORIENT, France --- On Tuesday, 23 June a ceremony took place to transfer the FREMM Tahya Misr to the Egyptian flag, a major step for the continuation of the training of the crew and seal trials. The ceremony took place in presence of General Sedki Sobhy, the Ministry of Defense of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Ministry of Defense, Admiral Osama Rabie, Commander in Chief of the Egyptian Navy, Admiral Bernard Rogel, the French Chief of Navy and Hervé Guillou, Chairman & CEO of DCNS. This important event marked the transfer of ownership of the...

EXCLUSIVE: A former senior government adviser who enjoyed privileged access to top-secret information about the navy’s future submarine project has taken a high paid job with one of three foreign contenders for the $20 billion plus contract. Sean Costello was chief-of-staff to former Defence Minister David Johnston and left his $250,000-a-year government job in January this year. He began work in April — just four months later — as Chief Executive Officer with French Government shipbuilder DCNS Australia. The firm is engaged in a “competitive evaluation process” for the Navy’s future submarine contract alongside Germany’s Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems (TKMS)...

TRIESTE, Italy, April 17 (UPI) -- Italian shipbuilder Orizzonte Sistemi Navali and DCNS of France have announced the construction of combat vessels for the navies of Italy and Egypt. Orizzonte Sistemi Navali S.p.A. said that OCCAR, the European Union agency in charge of multinational weapons procurement projects, had notified them that the Italian Navy was exercising a contract option to obtain two FREMM frigates. The frigates would be the ninth and tenth for Italy under the Italian-French FREMM, or Multi Mission European Frigates, program. The value of the option exercise carries a value of about $818.1 million. "Considering the effort...

PARIS --- France’s DCNS shipyards group has for the first time officially confirmed the sale of 10 Gowind corvettes to Egypt and Malaysia, together worth about 1.5 billion euros, and which have vindicated the company’s investment in this new class of warships. Further sales are anticipated. The Gowind design is derived from L’Adroit, an innovative ship combining certain attributes of frigates and offshore patrol vessels that DCNS developed on its own funds to meet what it believed was a market niche offering significant growth potential and a lack of credible competition. Gowinds are small frigates or large corvettes, rather than...

Europe, led by France, wants a seat at Canada's defence procurement table. It's a not-unreasonable request, given that the prize being sought, as French President Françoi s Hollande pre pare s for his first state visit to Canada on Sunday, is merely a level playing field, as opposed to the stacked deck that has so often characterized this country's military purchases. In an exclusive interview, Herve Guillou, who heads France's majority stateowned military shipbuilder, DCNS, said the company is "keen and eager" to begin discussions with Halifaxbased Irving Shipbuilding, with a view to offering both a design and combat systems...

Navy Recognition learned that DCNS will introduce a new submarine concept at Euronaval 2014 which be held from October 27th to 31st at Paris Le Bourget in France. The SMX OCEAN is based on a Barracuda hull, the next generation SSN of the French Navy, fitted with a conventional propulsion system (SSK) with AIP technology. The SMX OCEAN concept to be unveiled at Euronaval 2014. Picture: DCNS The focus of DCNS engineers in developing this concept was put on endurance and high sustained speed. We learned that the 4,700 tons SSK was designed for an endurance of 14,000 nautical miles...

U.S. naval ship vendors could learn a thing or two from the French, as they’ve thus far fought off extensive American efforts to intrude on France’s niche market in small surface combatants. It’s almost embarrassing. Despite American efforts to sell the Littoral Combat Ship, the French Gowind-Class corvette “family of ships” has quietly taken big bites out of the LCS’s international market. With the Gowind ships, France has simply out-hustled the LCS program, picking up two big orders from Malaysia and Egypt–and DCNS is actively looking to seize other key markets. The United States should take a good long look...

PARIS --- Egypt recently awarded French shipyard group DCNS a €1 billion contract for the acquisition of four Gowind corvettes, the French news website La Tribune reported June 3, adding that the French offer had beaten off rival bids from Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (Meko A200 corvettes) and the Dutch Damen Schelde group (Sigma corvette). This contract has not been announcement or confirmed. The contract covers two ships with another two on option, of which one would be built in France and the others in Egypt. The Gowind design selected by Egypt is the Gowind 2,400 tonne variant, fitted with...

The Royal Moroccan Navy will take possession of its FREMM frigate on 30 January. (DCNS) The Royal Moroccan Navy is scheduled to commission its FREMM multimission frigate Mohammad VI (D 601) on 30 January 2014 in a ceremony to be held in Brest, France. The ceremony will be attended by Morocco's Prince Moulay Rachid, Inspector General of the Royal Moroccan Navy Vice Admiral Mohamed Laghmari, French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and French Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Bernard Rogel. The ship will sail to Morocco about four weeks after it is commissioned. The ceremony was initially scheduled for 25...

A3SM: A True Game Changer for Submarine Self Defence against Threats from the Sky As part of the Paris Air Show Navy Recognition was invited by DCNS to visit their factory located near Angoulême in southwestern France. The 260 year old site used to manufacture guns for the "French Royal Navy". It now specializes in the production of submarine equipment such as torpedo tubes and torpedo handling systems. It is also the place where the FREMM frigates' vertical launch systems are produced. The focus of the visit however was the A3SM, a new anti-air defence weapon system for submarine currently...

LAAD 2013: DCNS reveals Brazilian carrier design DCNS is offering an adapted version of its PA2 design for a future Brazilian aircraft carrier. A model of a 60,000t displacement 285m-long PA2 carrier is being shown by the company at the LAAD exhibition in Rio de Janeiro. Eric Perrot, DCNS surface ships project director, told Shephard that the Brazilian Navy had plans to acquire one or two new aircraft carriers to replace their existing carrier, NAe Sao Paulo, after 2025. The Brazilian Navy released a request for proposals (RfP) in 2012 for specifications for aircraft carriers and Perrot said that DCNS...

DCNS to unveil new FREMM Frigate variant, updated BRAVE supply ship design at Euronaval 2012 At the 23rd EURONAVAL show to be held from 22 to 26 October 2012 at the Paris-le Bourget exhibition center, DCNS will unveil several new designs of submarines and surface vessels. Among them are the new FREMM-ER (for Extend Range) Frigate dedicated to Air Defense missions and an updated design for the BRAVE replenishment ship which was first unveiled two years ago at Euronaval 2010. The new FREMM ER (Extended Range) Frigate dedicated to Air Defense missions (Picture: DCNS) The FREMM-ER was designed with a...