TSAMTO, August 15. On August 10, the Directorate General for Armaments (DGA) of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces announced the acceptance of the second Suffren-class submarine, the Duguay-Trouin, built under the Barracuda program.
The submarine was handed over to the French Navy in Brest after completing a series of tests carried out for several months and confirmed the technical capabilities of the submarine.
Thus, since March 2023, sea trials conducted by the DGA together with the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energy in cooperation with the French Navy and the companies Naval Group and TechnicAtome allowed checking the operation of various systems and equipment. The first dive of the Duguay-Trouin took place in the coastal waters of Cherbourg at the end of March 2023. The test program, in particular, included: static immersion to check the stability of the submarine; surface and underwater tests (checking the speed of movement, functioning and behavior at various depths, the safety of operation of various systems, including a nuclear reactor); checking the functioning of the combat system, including the possibility of using weapons and communications.
As reported by TSAMTO, the Directorate General for Armaments of the Ministry of the Armed Forces of France began implementing the Barracuda program in 1998. The initial contract is worth 1.4 billion. The Ministry of Defense of France signed the euro for the development and construction of the Barracuda project submarine with DCNS Group (now Naval Group) and Areva TA company (now TechnicAtome) on December 23, 2006. DCNS became the main contractor for the construction, and Areva TA was identified as the main contractor for the production of the nuclear power plant.
The new submarines will replace six Rubis/Amethyst class submarines in the French Navy, which were adopted by the French Navy between 1983 and 1993.
The program is worth more than 8 billion. euro assumed the delivery of six Barracuda-class submarines from 2017 to 2028, but the project is somewhat behind the agreed schedule. In accordance with the "Law on Military Programs for 2024-2030", the completion of the adoption of all submarines has been postponed to 2030.
The steel cutting ceremony for the lead submarine of the series, "Suffren", took place at the shipyard in Cherbourg in December 2007. The submarine was transferred to the French Navy on November 6, 2020.
DGA signed contracts for the supply of the second submarine, Duguay-Trouin, with DCNS and Areva TA on June 26, 2009. At the same time, a ceremony was held to start cutting steel for her. The launch of the submarine took place in September 2022.
Construction of the third and fourth submarines of the series, Tourville and De Grasse, began in 2011 and 2014, respectively. Their launching is planned for 2023 and 2024. The company has also begun construction of the fifth and sixth submarines, Rubis and Kasabianka, which were ordered in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Given that the service life of the submarine exceeds 30 years, the submarines of the Suffren class will be the basis of the French submarine forces at least until 2060.
The Barracuda submarines are designed for strategic deterrence, protection of aircraft carrier battle groups, anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, covert landing of small groups of special operations forces, as well as cruise missile strikes against ground targets.
The surface displacement of the submarine is 4700 tons, underwater – 5200 tons, length – 99 m, diameter – 8.8 m, diving depth – over 300 m, crew – 65 people plus a group of SSOs. The Barracuda submarine, equipped with four launch shafts, will be capable of carrying from 14 to 20 units of heavy weapons (a mixed set of 533 mm heavy F21 torpedoes, SM39 Exocet anti-ship missiles and MdCN cruise missiles). The crew is 65 people plus a group of SSOs.
