DCN Receives EUR 288.5M to Support French Warships
The French Navy has awarded shipbuilder DCN a pair of contracts to support French warships. The contracts are worth EUR 288.5 million (about $350 million), and cover a wide variety of platforms including the helicopter carrier Jeanne d’Arc, Type-F67 Tourville-class anti-submarine warfare frigates, Type-F70 Primauguet-class ASW frigates, Type-A69 patrol frigates, and the ballistic missile nuclear submarine SSBN Le Temeraire.
To be more specific, the first contract is worth EUR 127.5 million, and covers through-life support services (TLS) over the next 3.5 years for Brest-based front-line warships on France’s Atlantic seaboard. The contract covers TLS for the helicopter carrier Jeanne d’Arc, 2 Type-F67 Tourville-class anti-submarine warfare frigates, Type-F70 Georges Leygues-class ASW frigates, and 5 Type-A69 patrol frigates.
Terms include incentives for both timely delivery and the continuing availability of each ship’s key capabilities. This is a contractual shift from means to results, where DCN is no longer paid on the basis of work done, but according to vessel availability. DCN has now won five French Navy contracts for guaranteed-availability TLS, including services for nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs), nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines (SSBNs), torpedoes, and front-line warships based at Toulon on the Mediterranean coast.
The second contract concerns the French nuclear ballistic missile submarine SSBN Le Temeraire.
Towards the end of 2005, S617 Le Temeraire will be due for a 22-month-long, EUR 161 million refueling of its K15 pressurized water 150 MW nuclear reactor, and complex overhaul at DCN facilities in Brest harbour. This ship was the second Triompahnt Class SSBN; it was launched in January 1998, and entered active service in December 1999.
DCN notes that this project will benefit from lessons learned in the course of similar work on SSBN Le Triomphant and other recent DCN advances in TLS. This contract is in addition to a EUR 30 million contract in 2004 for preparatory work and long-lead-time items, and falls under DCN’s overall agreement to support for the French Navy/ Force Oceanique Strategique fleet of four SSBNs. Corporate releases.
