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French shipbuilder DCNS opened a new office in Bogota, Colombia, hoping to bolster its chances in securing work on the Colombian Navy’s Plataforma Estratégica de Superficie (PES) frigate acquisition programme.

Under the programme, Colombia plans to acquire four frigates to replace the existing Almirante Padilla-class vessels, which are expected to be decommissioned in 2024.

Olivier Michel, DCNS Latin America Vice President, opened the representative office in Bogota, on Wednesday, March 8.

This inauguration will be followed by DCNS participation in Colombiamar, the Colombian naval defense exhibition which will be held in Cartagena March 15-17.

“With our new representative office in Bogota, DCNS is keen to be part of a strategic partnership with Colombia and its local industry,” Olivier Michel said.

“Thanks to its long and fruitful experience in cooperation and its expertise in systems integration and technology transfer, DCNS intends to bring technology and added-value know-how contributing to development and sovereignty of Colombia in naval defense field. DCNS is proud to already have a successful experience in Colombia with the Colombian navy through the Padilla frigates modernization program.”

Between 2009 and 2013, DCNS completed the maintenance and upgrading of the Almirante Padilla-class frigates.

The French shipbuilder is proposing its new 4,000t Belh@rra frigate. Belh@rra is the export version of the French Navy’s new FTI (Fregate de Taille Intermediaire) medium-size frigate, which will be equipped for anti-submarine warfare with widened self-defence and commando-projection capacities.

Another offer for the Colombian frigates is coming from UK’s BMT Defence Services who joined forces with Saab to offer the Venator-110 frigate design.

The Venator-110 is a 117-meter design that can come in three versions: light frigate, patrol frigate and a patrol ship, responding to individual requirements and budgets, as BMT says.

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French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to take administrative steps toward launching a €3.8 billion (U.S. $4 billion) frigate program, looking to beat the electoral clock as the ballot box opens in May for the French presidential election.

A ministerial investment committee had been due today to approve the intermediate frigate but a change in the minister’s diary led to the meeting to be postponed, two sources said.

Clearance is still expected when the committee meets, allowing defense officials to seek funding from the Ministry for the Economy and Finance and eventually sign contracts with industry. The aim was to start that administrative process before the presidential election, followed by the parliamentary general election in June.

The investment committee is also expected to greenlight a planned upgrade of the La Fayette, adding an anti-submarine capability to the light frigate.

The minister’s private office declined to comment.

Naval shipbuilder DCNS and electronics company Thales stand to benefit from the intermediate frigate program, which aims to deliver five 4,200-ton frigates, with the first of class due in 2023.

A new program helps sustain the design offices but leaves the services discontented, as orders for the multimission frigate have been cut to eight from 11 units, despite the development invested in the more capable warship, business website La Tribune reported.

A French Navy order for a 4,000-ton warship is seen as vital for arms exports, as the program allows prime contractor DCNS to promote its Belh@rra, a version of the intermediate frigate pitched to foreign markets.

DCNS says it named the frigate Belh@rra "in reference to Europe’s only giant wave: the Belharra. The first 'a' transformed into an @ makes reference to the highly digital nature of the frigate."

A chase for exports can be seen in DCNS announcing March 8 the opening of its office in Bogota, ahead of Colombiamar, a naval trade show opening March 15 at Cartagena, Colombia. DCNS will present its Gowind corvette and Belh@rra frigate at the exhibition, the company said.

The Colombian National Navy is looking to acquire four frigates, a naval specialist said. Those warships would add to the Padilla class of light frigates, which underwent a modernization from DCNS, with Thales as systems integrator.

DCNS will likely pitch a specific version of its Gowind to Colombia, as the Navy is seeking an anti-air missile with a range of 30 kilometers, a capability that exceeds the VL Mica usually proposed by the French company. The picture on the company’s statement shows a Rheinmetall Millennium close-in weapon above the helicopter pad at the stern, while the forward gun is a Leonardo cannon.

“That missile requirement opens the question of what partnership meets what Colombia wants,” said Robbin Laird of ICSA, a consulting firm based in Washington and Paris. The French government would need to show flexibility to approve the fitting of a foreign weapon.

That flexibility was required in Australia, with DCNS building a new submarine that will be fitted with a Lockheed Martin combat management system.

A frigate of 4,000 tons plugs a gap in DCNS’ product range, between the 2,000-ton Gowind corvette and 6,000-ton multimission frigate. The latter, which has been bought by Egypt and Morocco, is too complex for many foreign navies.

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FORBIN said:

New SSN Suffren with now the sail in black
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The defense minister has approved administrative steps to launch a €3.8 billion ($4 billion) program for five intermediate frigates for the French Navy, procurement chief Laurent Collet-Billon said March 22.

The minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, “granted the approval,” the head of the Direction Générale de l’Armement told Defense News, confirming a report by Mer et Marine, a specialist naval website.

Besides building the ships at Lorient, in Britanny, northwest France, there will be major work on subsystems around the country, including the Aquitaine and Provence regions, Collet-Billon said.

Le Drian holds a dual mandate of defense minister while he is also president of the Britanny regional council.

Development work will keep research offices busy and the program will help exports, the DGA chief told Defense News after speaking at a Circle of Economists’ conference on the theme "Defense industries: are they an asset for the economy?"

That approval, given on Monday when the ministerial investment committee met, was seen as a key step toward awarding contracts ahead of the election of the next French president in a two-step vote on April 23 and May 7. A parliamentary election follows in June.

Shipbuilder DCNS will be prime contractor, with electronics company Thales supplying a new multifunction naval radar, dubbed Sea Fire 500, and a new compact version of its Captas-4 towed array sonar.

MBDA Aster 30 anti-air missiles will arm the French Navy frigates, but the service has shown little interest in upgrading to an anti-ballistic missile capability, an industry source said.

The Italian Navy has expressed interest in fitting an anti-ballistic missile on its planned PPA frigates, arming them with a planned Aster 30 Block 1 new technology missile. Italy will fund studies to adapt that land weapon for warships.

Britain has also said it will study fitting Aster 30 Block 1 NT on its Type 45 Daring-class destroyer.

MBDA Exocet missiles are expected to be offered on DCNS’ export version of the intermediate frigate, dubbed Belh@rra, with the onboard digital technology reflected in the use of the @-symbol.

Those frigates are aimed at foreign navies, looking to plug a French gap in the export market. Italy’s Fincantieri last year won a Qatari order worth €3.8 billion for seven vessels, pointing up the need for Paris to launch a suitable competitive product.

DCNS and the minister’s office were not available for comment, while Thales declined comment.

The 4,200-ton Belh@rra vessels are intended to slot in above the Gowind corvette, which weighs 2,000 tons, and below the multimission frigate weighing 6,000 tons.

DCNS concluded March 17 the first sea trials of the Gowind 2500, the company said in a statement. The shipbuilder has sold 10 of the warships to foreign clients, with the first of class built at Lorient, and nine to be built in Egypt and Malaysia for their navies.

“The sea trials of the Gowind® 2500 corvette once again illustrate DCNS’ industrial capacity to manage and realize major programs with products meeting the needs of our customers”, said Pierre Legros, DCNS senior vice-president for programs.

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