La Fayette-class frigate
Videos
The La Fayette class is a class of general purpose frigates built by DCNS in the 1980s and 1990s, operated by the French Navy and three other navies. Derivatives of the type are in service in the navi
The French frigate Surcouf
The La Fayette type features very clean superstructures, as Courbet demonstrates
Superstructure of a La Fayette blends into the hull with only a slight change in inclination
Cable deck of Surcouf, covered to reduce the radar signature; seamanship evolutions are completed through openings in the hull
The Amiral Ronarc'h-class frigate is a new class of first-rank French frigates to complement the Aquitaine class. The program is known as Frégate de Défense et d'Intervention or FDI, formerly denomina
La Fayette-class frigate
…class in 1988, the last of which entered service in 2001. In the French Navy, they are being incrementally superseded in "first-rank" functions by five frégates de taille intermédiaire (FTI, "intermediate size frigates") from 2025. In the late 1980s, the French Navy (Marine Nationale) started the studies for frigates adapted to…
Amiral Ronarc'h in New York during its Atlantic deployment in April 2026
2016 model of a Frégate de défense et d'intervention.
The FDI in planned French Navy of the late 2030s: a Bâtiment ravitailleur de forces conducts simultaneous underway replenishment with the PA-NG nuclear aircraft carrier and with a Frégate de défense et d'intervention.
Computer-generated image of a launch of an Aster-30 missile.