Yonec Fihey, Marketing Director, Surface Ships, Naval Group, at the booth of Naval Group at EDEX 2023.
Naval Group, the French maritime defence company that is well-known as an industrial prime contractor, designer, and integrator for warships and combat systems, is looking to expand its long-term ties with the Egyptian Navy at EDEX 2023. Thanks to its know-how and industrial resources, it designs, produces, integrates, and supports submarines and surface ships. Naval Group is not only offering the addition of new ships to the Egyptian fleet but also proposing a long-term relationship in training, MRO of existing ships.
Yonec Fihey, Marketing Director, Surface Ships, Naval Group, said that they are proud to have a long-term relationship with the Egyptian Navy, which is an important customer for Naval Group. The highlight of Naval Group’s participation at EDEX is the FDI frigate, known in the international arena as the Belharra class, which the group proposes to the Egyptian Navy to modernize its fleet.
“The Egyptian Navy has around seven ships from the Naval Group including Frigates, Landing Helicopter Dock (LHDs), and the sea-proven Gowind® Corvettes. We have been offering training and MRO services to the Egyptian fleet at the Alexandria Shipyard. We are committed strongly to providing ToT and ensuring all sorts of support to the Egyptian Navy to maintain its state-of-the-art warships and to meet current and future challenges with the most advanced technologies. The Egyptian Navy’s crew is trained in the operational use of the vessels,” Fihey said.
The latest cutting edge warship- Belh@rra® is at the centre of Naval Group’s display at the expo. Designed as a multi-mission frigate, the 4000t-displacement Belh@rra® frigate positions itself between the 2500t corvette-class Gowind® and the 6000t FREMM. This state-of-the-art frigate is a versatile addition to Naval Group’ catalogue and completes the Group’s range of frigates with what is a truly innovation-ridden vessel.
The FDI frigate measures 122 meters in length and 17.7 meters in beam. Propelled by a Combined Diesel and Diesel (CODAD) arrangement, the frigate generates a total output of 32,000 kW (43,000 shp). In terms of sensors and processing systems, the FDI frigate is equipped with the Thales Sea Fire multi-function Active electronically scanned array radar in the S-band, Kingklip Mark 1115 hull sonar and CAPTAS-4 towed sonar.
“The Belh@rra® is currently used by the navies of France and Greece. We hope to make deals with the Egyptian Navy. It is a digital fighting ship, which has digital architectures with two data centres. It is the heart of our proposal to modernize the Egyptian Navy. It is cyber-secure by design with all requirements of cyber security. It has improved weapon systems, EW suites, air defence capabilities, gun systems etc. Also, it has a dedicated hangar for a big UAV along with the hangar for a heavy helicopter,” Fihey said.
