The Patrouilleurs Outre-mer (POM), or ''Félix Éboué'' class, are a type of six high-sea patrol vessels of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

. They are to be based at Nouméa,

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

and La Réunion, as replacement for the s which are nearing the end of their career. The POM are far larger, with a 1,300-ton

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fully loaded, and a wider range or capabilities. They are to be commissioned with the Navy from early 2023 into 2025.

History

Conception

Work conducted in the framework of the BATSIMAR programme and the 2017 Strategic Study for National Defence and Security determined that protecting French overseas regions required capabilities of opposing terrorist action and threats of encroachment. They defined two families of patrol vessels: new generation high sea patrol vessels (''patrouilleurs de haute mer de nouvelle génération,'' PHM-NG), or Oceanic Patrol Vessel; and Overseas Patrol Vessels (''Patrouilleurs Outre-mer'', POM). The POM are designed to protect territories and conduct coast guard duties, without significant offensive armament. The Direction générale de l'Armement (DGA) issued an invitation to tender for construction in August 2018.

Order

On 3 November 2019, during the Assises de l'économie de la mer, President

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...

announced that the Ministry of Armed Forces had assigned the contract for building the six POM to

Socarenam Socarenam (french: SOCARENAM, acronym: ''Société Calaisienne de Réparation Navale et Mécanique'') is a French employee-owned shipbuilding company that operates shipyards in multiple ports in northern and western of the country. History Soc ...

, of

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

. Socarenam had previously won the tender for building the Patrouilleurs Antilles-Guyane (PAG) of the type. DGA issued the official order to Socarenam on 24 December 2019. The order for design, building and maintenance was published on 12 February 2020. It was assigned jointly to Socarenam and CNN-MCO, of

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, for a total of 223,939,897

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s excluding VAT.

Construction

The POM will be named in honour of Free French fighters from the overseas regions where the ships are to be based. The ceremony for the beginning of the construction of the first ship, ''Auguste Bénébig'', took place on 8 October 2020 during a visit of Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly at the Socarenam shipyard in

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

. The ship was launched on 15 October 2021 at Saint-Malo, and towed to Boulogne-sur-Mer where she arrived on 18 October for her fitting out. She started

trials In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

on 26 July 2022, partly from the naval base in Brest. The commissioning is expected for early 2023 after arrival in Nouméa.

Characteristics

The ''Félix Éboué''-class vessels displace 1,300 tons fully loaded., with a length of , a

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of , and draught of . The crew is made up of 30 sailors, but they can accommodate 29 passengers and support combat divers. They are designed to operate in strong heat and high hygrometry during thirty days, with their own craning capabilities. They have two swift inflatable boats and an

Airbus Aliaca Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

unmanned aircraft system (UAS) drone. The drone, capable of up to three-hour missions over a range, is launched by catapult and recovered automatically via a net. Eleven Aliaca UAS systems are being delivered to the French Navy by 2023 and thirteen more by 2025. The ships are fitted with a Lyncea combat system made by Nexeya. The same system has been installed on and patrol vessels since 2009. Surveillance radars are made by Hensoldt. Armament comprises a

Nexter Narwhal The Nexter Narwhal is a type of remotely operated naval artillery turret made by the French company Nexter. It houses a 20 mm autocannon based on the Nexter M621 and M693. The name "Narwhal" is a backronym of "NAval Remote Weapon, Highly Accura ...

autogun at the bow, and four mounts for and machine guns.

Ships in class

Six patrol vessels are planned for the French Navy. The first unit is to transit to her base at Nouméa in

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, arriving in January 2023. Another vessel is to be based at Nouméa from 2024. Two further ships will be based at La Réunion, and two more at Tahiti. The ships will replace the P400-class patrol boats, as well as and ''Arago.''

Citations

External links

* . * . * . {{French Navy navbox Patrol boat classes Patrol vessels of the French Navy