French Navy’s De Grasse SSN enters critical sea trials phase
France’s fourth Barracuda-class nuclear attack submarine De Grasse (S638), has begun sea trials. Naval Group confirmed the delivery to French Navy in 2026.
marine nationale News
Navy / Maritime
Navy / Maritime
French Navy Tests FS Courbet Frigate Against Mines
French Navy has conducted water explosion tests on the La Fayette-class frigate FS Courbet (F712) to validate its integrity in the face of mine threats.
Weapon / Missile
French Navy Orders Additional EXOCET Missiles
The French Defence Ministry announced on May 24 an additional order of EXOCET MM40 Block 3C anti-ship missiles for the Navy.
Navy / Maritime
Sensors
French Navy Tests New Magnetic Anomaly Detection System
French Navy tests new magnetic anomaly detection system on NH-90 Caïman naval cooperation helicopters as part of Anti-Submarine Warfare.
Navy / Maritime
French Navy received the Final FREMM Frigate “Lorraine”
The French Armament General Directorate (DGA) received the FREMM Frigate “Lorraine” (D657) from the Naval Group for the French Navy (Marine Nationale).
Navy / Maritime
Bilateral Relations
Naval Group Launches French Navy’s first FDI
The lead ship of the French Navy’s first defence and intervention frigate FDI class, also known as Belharra class Amiral Ronar’ch, was launched in Lorient.
Navy / Maritime
Air
French Navy accepts first H160 Helicopter for SAR Missions
The French Navy (Marine Nationale) will deploy Airbus’ next-generation medium twin-engine helicopter H-160 to carry out search and rescue (SAR) operations.
Navy / Maritime
France introduced the nuclear attack submarine Suffren
The French shipbuilder Naval Group product, The French Navy’s nuclear attack submarine Suffren (Q284) entered “active duty” on June 3, 2022.
Air
French Private Company ARES Buys Qatar’s Mirage 2000-5 Jets
A French private company, ARES (Advanced REDAIR European Squadron), has purchased 12 Mirage 2000-5 fighters belonging to the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF).
Navy / Maritime
The French Navy's 'Alsace' frigate is ready for deployment
French Navy's (Marine Nationale) Aquitaine-class FREMM multipurpose frigate Alsace has been declared operational by French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly.
Navy / Maritime
Weapon / Missile
French Navy’s Laser Weapon gets Prepared for 2022
French Navy is preparing to test the HELMA-P laser weapon system in 2020. The system has passed the trials on the ground recently.
Navy / Maritime
Air
Two more H160s for the French Navy
DGA has confirmed an option for Airbus helicopters, Babcock, and Safran helicopter engines for two more H160s for the French Navy.
Global Defence Trend Brief
- 12:00 Italy gives conditional approval to Leonardo-Baykar drone venture - Reuters reported that Italy has conditionally approved the Leonardo–Baykar joint venture to produce...
- 12:00 USNI looks at Türkiye’s defence-industrial rise through EFES 2026 - USNI News used the EFES 2026 exercise to examine how Türkiye is linking operational military activit...
- 12:00 Reuters tracks Ankara’s goal of doubling defence exports - Reuters reported that Turkish officials want to double defence exports within two years after export...
- 12:00 Breaking Defense highlights Turkish one-way attack systems at SAHA 2026 - Breaking Defense reported that Turkish companies used SAHA 2026 to unveil multiple one-way attack sy...
- 12:00 Defense News spotlights ASELSAN’s autonomous warfare concept - Defense News reported that ASELSAN used SAHA 2026 to present a future warfare concept centred on aut...
- 12:00 Le Monde examines Türkiye’s expanding defence footprint in Mali - Le Monde reported that Türkiye has become an increasingly important security partner for Mali throug...
- 12:00 French strategic study identifies Türkiye as a rising European supplier - The Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique assessed Türkiye as one of the most notable new entrants...
- 12:00 Middle East Forum analyses Baykar’s expansion into Europe - A Middle East Forum analysis argued that Baykar’s growing presence in Europe shows how production ca...
- 12:00 Jerusalem Post highlights Baykar’s export-heavy revenue model - The Jerusalem Post reported that Baykar generated roughly $1.8 billion in drone exports in 2024 and...
- 12:00 Foreign defence reporting keeps focus on KAAN’s next prototype phase - International defence coverage continued to highlight Turkish Aerospace’s target for the first ‘true...
- 09:00 NATO pushes allies to fill US air and naval capability gaps - Washington is pressing European allies and Canada to provide more manned and unmanned aircraft plus...
- 09:00 AI-driven drone swarms rise as a new NATO planning priority - NATO officials are warning that AI-enabled drone swarms could reshape warfare within five years, pus...
- 09:00 Counter-drone demand expands beyond battlefields into critical infrastructure - Growing drone incursions around airports, ports, oil facilities and data centres are accelerating de...
- 09:00 Europe’s loyal wingman race becomes a core airpower trend - Collaborative combat aircraft took centre stage at Berlin Airshow 2026 as European companies and air...
- 09:00 Ukraine’s drone combat know-how is becoming an export asset in Asia - Ukrainian drone firms are marketing battlefield-proven systems and swarm concepts in Japan, Taiwan a...
- 09:00 NATO accelerates live testing of counter-drone technologies - Alliance members and industry partners are expanding field trials of drone detection and interceptio...
- 09:00 Hypersonic threats keep driving demand for persistent tracking networks - The spread of hypersonic weapons continues to push Western defence planners toward integrated radar...
- 09:00 Military space resilience shifts toward larger distributed constellations - Armed forces are increasingly favouring proliferated satellite constellations over a small number of...
- 09:00 Autonomous maritime systems gain importance in surveillance and strike planning - Navies are broadening interest in autonomous surface and underwater systems for persistent ISR, infr...
- 09:00 Industrial surge capacity is becoming a decisive defence metric - Across missiles, drones and air defence, governments are placing more weight on production scalabili...
