Horizon-class frigate

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French destroyer Forbin (D620) underway in the Arabian Sea on 31 May 2009 (090531-N-9988F-406).jpg
French destroyer Forbin, lead ship of the Horizon class
Class overview
NameHorizon class
BuildersHorizon Sas (DCNS, Thales, Fincantieri, Finmeccanica – Leonardo-Finmeccanica since 2016), Leonardo since 2017
Operators
Preceded by
Cost
Built2002–2007
In serviceSince 2008
In commissionSince 2007
Planned8
Completed4
Cancelled4
Active4
General characteristics
Type Destroyer
Displacement
  • 7,050 t (6,940 long tons; 7,770 short tons), full load [2]
  • 5,290 t (5,210 long tons; 5,830 short tons), light displacement
Length
  • 152.87 m (501 ft 7 in) LOA
  • 141.7 m (465 ft) LPP
Beam20.3 m (67 ft)
Draught
  • 5.4 m (18 ft)
  • depth 11.8 m (39 ft)
Propulsion
SpeedIn excess of 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) [3]
Range
  • 6,100 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 18 kn (33 km/h)
  • 3,500 nmi (6,480 km) at 25 knots (46 km/h)
ComplementItalia: 255 in 1, 2 or 4 beds for cabin
CrewItalia: 236, of which: 195 based-crew + 13 flight staff + 18 others
Sensors and
processing systems
Electronic warfare
& decoys
  • Elettronica Spa 4100 Nettuno
  • SIGEN EW
  • 2 × OTO Melara ODLS-H decoy launching system
  • 2 × SLAT anti torpedo system
Armament
Aircraft carried1 × AW101 or SH90A
Aviation facilities
  • Flight deck, 24.8 m × 16.0 m (81.4 ft × 52.5 ft)
  • Hangar for one AW101 or NH90 Caïman

The Horizon class (French: Classe Horizon; Italian: Classe Orizzonte) is a class of air-defence destroyers in service with the French and Italian navies. They are designated as destroyers by the Italians [7] and are referred to as "frigates" by the French but nonetheless also use the NATO classification "D" intended for destroyers. The programme started as the Common New Generation Frigate (CNGF), a three-nation collaboration between France, the United Kingdom, and Italy to develop a new generation of air-defence warships. [8] Differing national requirements, workshare disagreements and delays led to the UK withdrawing from the project in 1999 to develop the Type 45 destroyer. [9]

Contents

The FREMM multipurpose frigate were built using the same company structure as the Horizon project.

Development

France, Italy, and the UK issued a joint requirement in 1992 after the failure of the NATO Frigate Replacement for the 90s (NFR-90) project. In July 1993, the three countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a Common New Generation Frigate (CNGF). [10] The ships were to be armed with the Principal Anti Air Missile System (PAAMS). The UK intended to purchase twelve ships to replace its Type 42 destroyers. France was to purchase four to replace its Suffren class, and Italy would purchase six to replace its Andrea Doria and Audace-class ships. [11]

Problems emerged almost immediately. The primary problem was that of differing requirements: France wanted anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) escorts for its aircraft carriers, but only a limited range was necessary due to the self-defence capability of the French Charles de Gaulle. Italy too required only close-range capabilities, as in its home waters of the Mediterranean Sea the ships would operate under Italian Air Force cover or escorts for its aircraft carrier Cavour. The Royal Navy, however, required more capable ships which could throw a large defensive "bubble" over a fleet operating in hostile areas. [12] The compromise that largely solved this problem was the adoption of a standard radar interface, which allowed France and Italy to install the EMPAR multi-function passive electronically scanned array radar and the UK to install the more capable SAMPSON active electronically scanned array radar—the SAMPSON radar has a higher data rate and an adaptive beam that allows a greater ability to track multiple targets, long-range detection of low-RCS targets, a lower false-alarm rate, and overall higher tracking accuracy. [13]

In March 1996, it was agreed that the PAAMS office would be based in Paris, and the Project Horizon project office would be based in London. The latter was to be responsible for the design of the ship, its command and control, and secondary weapons systems. Britain also agreed to contribute £100m in recognition of the development work already completed by Italy and France on PAAMS. [11] Construction would be carried out by DCN (France), GEC-Marconi (UK), and Orizzonte (Italy). [11]

UK withdrawal

On 26 April 1999, the UK announced that it was withdrawing from the CNGF project to pursue its own national design. At this point, the CNGF project was five years behind schedule. [14] The Financial Times summarised the main disagreements between the partner countries: [15]

The resulting Type 45 destroyer is armed with the PAAMS missile system and has benefited from investment in the Horizon project.

Franco-Italian project

Italian Caio Duilio Nave Caio Duilio.jpg
Italian Caio Duilio

France and Italy continued their collaboration under the Horizon project. In September 2000, the two countries signed a contract to jointly produce four ships, ordering two ships each which would deploy the PAAMS missile system. [16] The Italian Navy ordered two units, Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio, to replace the Audace class. Andrea Doria was accepted on 22 December 2007 and received the flag of the Italian Navy. Full operation capability was achieved in the summer of 2008. The French Navy ordered two units, Forbin and Chevalier Paul, to replace the Suffren-class carrier escorts. The project cost France €2.16bn (~US$3bn) at 2009 prices. [1] A further two Horizons were cancelled; instead, the two Cassard-class frigates were to be replaced by the FREDA air-defence variant of the Franco-Italian FREMM multipurpose frigate (later known as Alsace and Lorraine). France bought 40 Aster 15 and 80 Aster 30 missiles for their ships. [1] On the Italian units, the three cannons will be upgraded to the 76 mm/62 Super Rapid Multi Feeding David/Strales version with the capacity to use the DART guided projectile in the anti-missile role. [17]

Ships

Name Pennant
number 		BuilderLaid downLaunchedCommissionedStatusMotto
Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg  French Navy
Forbin D620 DCNS
Lorient 		4 April 200210 March 2005December 2008In serviceOpra Sac Di Sou Kraam
Chevalier Paul D62123 October 200312 July 2006June 2009In serviceOser et Vaincre
Naval Ensign of Italy.svg  Italian Navy
Andrea Doria D 553 Fincantieri
Riva Trigoso
and Muggiano
(La Spezia)		19 July 200215 October 200522 December 2007In serviceAltius Tendam
Caio Duilio D 55419 September 200323 October 20073 April 2009In serviceNomen numen

See also

Related Research Articles

Type 45 destroyer 2009 Royal Navy destroyer class

The Type 45 destroyer, also known as the D or Daring class, is a class of six guided-missile destroyers built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy in the early 21st century. The class is primarily designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare and is built around the PAAMS air-defence system using the SAMPSON Active electronically scanned array (AESA) and the S1850M long-range radars. The first three destroyers were assembled by BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions from partially prefabricated "blocks" built at different shipyards; the remaining three were built by BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships. The first ship in the Daring class, HMS Daring, was launched on 1 February 2006 and commissioned on 23 July 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aster (missile family)</span> Franco-Italian surface-to-air missile family

The Aster 15 and Aster 30 are a Franco-Italian family of all-weather, vertical launch surface-to-air missiles. The name "Aster" stands for "Aérospatiale Terminale", with French company Aérospatiale having been the project's lead contractor before its missile activities were merged into MBDA. It also takes inspiration from the word "aster", meaning "star" in Ancient Greek. The missiles as well as the related weapon systems are manufactured by Eurosam, a consortium consisting of MBDA France, MBDA Italy and Thales, each holding a 33.3% share.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PAAMS</span> Joint programme for an integrated anti-air warfare system

The Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) is a joint programme developed by France, Italy, and the United Kingdom for an integrated anti-aircraft warfare system. The prime contractor is EUROPAAMS, a joint venture between Eurosam (66%) and UKAMS (33%). In the United Kingdom, PAAMS has been given the designation Sea Viper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SAMPSON</span> Multifunction, rotating AESA radar

The SAMPSON is a multi-function dual-face active electronically scanned array radar produced by BAE Systems Maritime. It is the fire control radar component of the Sea Viper naval air defence system. The Sea Viper system is also known as PAAMS(S) to denote the use of the SAMPSON radar and to distinguish it from the PAAMS system on the Franco-Italian Horizon-class frigate.

French frigate <i>Forbin</i> Horizon-class frigate of the French Navy

Forbin (D620) is a large anti-air frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of the Horizon class. Her first task is protecting aircraft carriers, capital ships or civilian ships from supersonic missile attacks; her complement of medium-range anti-air missiles allows her to support the defences of another ship under attack and avoid their saturation. She is also capable of monitoring and controlling operations carried out from the sea by friendly aircraft. Forbin is the sixth vessel of the French Navy named after the 17th century admiral Claude Forbin-Gardanne.

FREMM multipurpose frigate Class of multi-purpose frigates

The FREMM, which stands for "European multi-purpose frigate", is a Franco-Italian family of multi-purpose frigates designed by Naval Group and Fincantieri. In France, this surface combatant is known as the "Aquitaine class", while in Italy it is known as the "Bergamini class". The lead ship of the class, Aquitaine, was commissioned in November 2012 by the French Navy. Italy has ordered six general purpose and four anti-submarine variants. France, on the other hand, has ordered six anti-submarine variants and two air-defense ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S1850M</span> Long-range, rotating AESA radar

The S1850M is a long-range radar with a digital antenna array for wide area search in elevation. The S1850M is manufactured by Thales and BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies. It is a modified version of the Thales Nederland SMART-L radar. The S1850M is advertised as being capable of fully automatic detection, track initiation, and tracking of up to 1,000 targets at a range of 400 kilometres (250 mi). It is also claimed to be highly capable of detecting stealth targets, and able to detect and track outer atmosphere objects at short range, enabling it to form part of a Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurosam</span> European manufacturer of anti-air missiles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">EMPAR</span> Shipborne multifunction PESA radar

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Projet de loi de finances pour 2013 : Défense : équipement des forces" (in French). Senate of France. 22 November 2012. Archived from the original on 26 March 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "Project Horizon". Globalsecurity.org. Archived from the original on 22 September 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  3. ↑ "Forbin (D620)" (in French). Marine Nationale. Archived from the original on 31 May 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  4. ↑ "Frégate Forbin" (in French). Alabordache.fr. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  5. ↑ "Frégate Chevalier Paul" (in French). Alabordache.fr. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "Narwhal : Deux nouveaux bâtiments français équipés". June 2018.
  7. ↑ "Destroyer – Marina Militare".
  8. ↑ "Horizon Class". naval-technology.com. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  9. ↑ Nicoll, Alexander (27 April 1999). "National differences scupper frigate project". Financial Times.
  10. ↑ "Project to build warship agreed". Financial Times. London. 17 July 1993.
  11. 1 2 3 Gray, Bernard (23 March 1996). "Britain, France and Italy agree £7bn frigate deal". Financial Times. London.
  12. ↑ Gray, Bernard (23 March 1996). "Eurofrigate planned for a new world of regional conflicts". Financial Times. London.
  13. ↑ Dranidis, Dimitris V. (May 2003). "Backboards of the fleet: shipboard phased-array radars; a survey of requirements, technologies, and operational systems". Journal of Electronic Defense. 26 (5): 55.
  14. ↑ Nicoll, Alexander; Owen, David (27 April 1999). "European warship project collapses as UK withdraws". Financial Times. London.
  15. ↑ Nicoll, Alexander (27 April 1999). "National differences scupper frigate project". Financial Times.
  16. ↑ "France, Italy Sign Agreement To Design, Build Four Horizon Frigates". Defense Daily. 26 September 2000. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  17. ↑ "Strales Guidance System for 76mm and DART Ammunition" (PDF). OTO Melara. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
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