French Navy Announced Aquitaine Frigate, First Ship of FREMM Class, is Now on Active Duty

The French Navy (Marine Nationale) just announced that the Aquitaine Frigate, first ship of the FREMM class of multi-mission frigates, has now entered "active duty" (admission au service actif in French). As we reported last week, Aquitaine is expected to join the Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group (CSG) in the coming days. This will be the first operational deployment for this new generation frigate.

Aquitaine's keel was laid at DCNS naval shipyard of Lorient in 2007. The Frigate was launched on April 29 2010 and commissioned in the French Navy on November 23 2012. The reason the French Navy took so long between commissioning and putting the vessel on active duty is obviously because Aquitaine is the first of new class of frigate bringing many innovations and capability steps.

Below are some of the key milestones of Aquitaine (except for the keel laying and launch as Navy Recognition started in August 2011 only):

12/2011 - DCNS successfully completes latest series of sea trials with FREMM frigate Aquitaine
02/2012 - DCNS conducts first helicopter deck landing trials on FREMM Aquitaine
03/2012 - DCNS conducts first deck landing of new Caiman Marine helicopter on board FREMM Aquitaine
07/2012 - Test success for DCNS and partners: FREMM frigate Aquitaine launches first torpedo
11/2012 - FREMM Aquitaine leaves DCNS shipyard Lorient to join her homeport: French Naval Base in Brest
01/2013 - First Underway Replenishment for French Navy's newest Frigate: FREMM Aquitaine
02/2013 - Aquitaine FREMM Frigate succesfully fires its first MBDA Aster 15 surface-to-air missile
04/2013 - FREMM Aquitaine, French Navy’s newest Frigate, conducts RAS with US Navy units
02/2014 - French Navy Aquitaine class (FREMM) frigate gets initial Anti-Submarine Warfare capability
05/2015 - A first in Europe: French Navy FREMM Frigate Aquitaine fires MBDA's Naval Cruise Missile
05/2015 - Video: French Navy FREMM Frigate Aquitaine fires MBDA's MdCN Naval Cruise Missile
07/2015 - Certification Campaign for H225M Caracal CSAR Helicopter Aboard FREMM Frigate Aquitaine

To learn more: Link to FREMM Frigate (Aquitaine class) technical datasheet