Greece to rent Two FREMMs from France

The French government had proposed two FREMM (FRégate Européenne Multi-Missions later FREgate Multi-Missions) to Greece in 2018. The proposal is again on the negotiation table according to Greek Media. France proposes Alsace (D656) and Lorraine (D657). The Dutch government has two modernized frigates to offer. 

According to unconfirmed information, the annual rental cost of the two ships will be 150 million euros with the right to purchase once the lease is completed. The duration of which is not yet known, although the French proposal in 2018 provided for the lease of ships for 5 years.

These two ships have partly different equipment from the rest of the FREMM frigates as they are equipped with 4 octagonal A50 vertical launchers carrying 32 Aster 15/30 missiles and a more powerful version of the Herakles multi-role radar.

The Herakles radar has a range of 400 km. The ships are armed with eight anti-ship missiles MM-40 Exocet Block 3 of MBDA and MU 90 torpedos, two remote-controlled guns Narwhal 20 mm of Nexter, electro panoramic early warning system Artemis IRST of Thales, Heliport after shed for hosting and supporting a 10-ton helicopter.

The first ship, the Alsace (D656), was to be delivered to the French Navy in 2021 and the second to the Lorraine (D657) in 2022, so it is estimated that if this case finally has a positive outcome, the Greek crews will need to prepare to leave for France. in 2021.

Characteristics

On the other hand, the Dutch government proposes two modernized ships to Greece. The Dutch offered to Greece for sale for a price of 250 million euros the two recently modernized multi-mission frigates Karel Doorman (M).

These are the newer generation of Greek S frigates. The two ships offered by the Dutch to Greece are the HNLMS Van Speijk (F828) and HNLMS Van Amstel (F831) which were delivered to the Dutch Navy in September 1995 and May 1993 respectively.

The ships have a length of 122.25 meters and a width of 14.4 meters with a full load of 3,320 tons, a maximum speed of 29 knots, a range of 5,000 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots, a range of 30 days and a crew of 154 people.

The propulsion unit includes 2 Rolls Royce (Spey 1A) turbines of 16,700 hp (12.45 MW) and two Stork-Werkspoor diesel engines of 4,895 hp (3,650 MW).

The equipment of the ship after the updating includes:

• The LW-08 search radar Thales Nederland,

• The radar SMART-S 3D of Thales Nederland fitted to the integrated web,

• the detection tracking radar and trapping target epifaneiastechnologias AESA SeaWatcher 100,

• The Thales Gatekeeper Electro-Optical Surveillance System,

• The Scout Thales Surface Radar,

• Two STIR-18 Thales Fire Control Systems,

• The Decca 1609/9 Shipping Radar,

• The PHS-36 Active Thrust Sonar

• The R-ESM System Thales Vigile APX

• Mark 36 SRBOC Counter Launcher

• DAISY VII Battle Management System

• Ultra Electronics Canada low frequency active/passive sonar

The ship's armament includes:

• The main cannon OTO Melara 76 mm / 62,

• 16 Mark 48 VLS vertical launch cells for 16 Sea Sparrow anti-aircraft missiles,

• 8 RGM-84 Harpoon anti-aircraft missiles,

• A close-range anti-missile defence system,

• 4 torque tubes type Mk 32 of 324 mm for 4 torpedoes Mark 46 and

• Heliport and hangar for hosting a 10-ton helicopter.

The same modernization program was carried out by the two Belgian frigates Karel Doorman (M), Louise-Marie (F931) and Leopold I (F930) which were originally delivered to the Dutch Navy in November 1991 and May 1991 respectively and acquired by Belgium in 2005.

It is not known if there is any discussion with the Belgians to sell their ships in Greece.