On February 12, the French Naval Group announced the delivery of the third and last upgraded "La Fayette" class frigate (FLF : Frégates de type La Fayette) to the French Navy. With the delivery of the third ship, the upgrade program for three of the five frigates of the type was completed. The third ship that was upgraded was FS "Aconit" (F-713), which lasted six months. The program, with a total value of €400 million, started in 2017, and concerned the ships FS "Courbet" (F-712), FS "La Fayette" (F-710) and FS "Aconit" (F-713). The platform upgrades include the replacement of the original Thales TAVITAC combat management system (CMS) with a scaled version of the SENIT 8 CMS, the implementation of Link 22, the replacement of the Thales Crotale Naval CN2 point defence missile system with two reconditioned MBDA Sadral sextuple launchers, the installation of MBDA's Exocet MM40 Block 3C anti-ship missiles, and the Thales Kingklip Mk 2 hull-mounted medium-frequency sonar and Naval Group CANTO.
The upgrade of the three "La Fayette" was chosen as an interim solution until the arrival of the five FDI frigates under construction (Belh@rra).
The two non-upgraded La Fayettes will be retired first, followed by the three upgraded frigates around 2030.
