DCNS Wins Contracts For French Navy Maintenance
PARIS - DCNS has won contracts worth 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) for maintenance of the French Navy's fleet of nuclear powered attack submarines and nuclear ballistic missile submarines, the naval systems company said in a Nov. 23 statement.
The Fleet support department on Nov. 16 signed a five-year contract for maintenance in operational condition of the attack submarines and a 5½-year deal for the ballistic missile boats, the French Navy said in a separate statement.
"The maintenance in operational condition of these submarines requires industrial resources and know-how only DCNS can offer to the French Navy," said DCN Chief executive Patrick Boissier. "We are proud to be able to contribute without a pause to the permanence of the nuclear deterrent."
The Navy, along with the Army and Air Force, has been forced to cut personnel as part of a 54,000 reduction in staff numbers by the middle of the next decade, required by a public sector review.
The attack submarine deal is worth more than 500 million euros, the company said.
DCNS will handle the running maintenance and major overhaul of the six attack submarines from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2014, as well as the overhaul of the Emerald submarine due in 2015.
Under the contract, DCNS will provide maintenance support at the Toulon naval base for the Rubis class of submarines: the Rubis, Saphir, Casablanca, Emeraude, Améthyste and the Pearl. Engineering and logistical services are included in the deal.
DCNS will be responsible for the major overhaul of the Casablanca, Rubis and Emeraude boats, lasting 18 months and involving the removal and reinstallation of onboard equipment. The company will also handle the interim refit lasting nine months of the Saphir, which requires replacement of nuclear fuel.
The contract for the ballistic missile submarines is worth just under 500 million euros, the company said.
The contract also requires DCNS to maintain and modernize the Navy's secret nuclear facilities in the Missiessy zone at Toulon and the training and tactical simulators at the submarine navigation school.
For the four ballistic missile submarines of the Navy's strategic oceanic force, Triomphant, Téméraire, Vigilant, and Terrible, DCNS will provide services from November to December 2015 at the Brest naval base. These boats will carry the new M51 ballistic missile, the seaborne component of France's nuclear deterrent.
The support will include running maintenance, engineering and logistical services, maintaining crew training facilities, special Navy tools and ground transmission aerials.
DCNS also holds a 310 million euro maintenance contract for supporting the Navy's surface fleet of warships, including the Horizon air defense frigates.
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