French shipbuilder SOCARENAM has selected Nexeya France, a Hensoldt company, to deliver six Lyncea combat management systems (CMS) for French Navy’s new POM overseas patrol vessels.
The contract award follows a competition organized by the French procurement agency DGA. The CMS will equip the offshore patrol vessels (OPV) beginning in 2021.
Nexeya’s Lyncea system is already in use on board of six offshore patrol vessels and six surveillance frigates of the Floreal-class. The combat management systems are developed in Toulon and Angoulême.
Lyncea offers a tactical datalink that increases operational capacities to communicate with the ship’s rigid hull inflatable boats and commandos. The CMS also offers additional capacities to store and analyse data collected by the ship’s unmanned aerial vehicle.
The French Navy ordered six POM vessels in December 2018, to replace the Le Malin and Arago vessels that are stationed in French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Reunion. SOCARENAM will work with naval architecture and marine engineering company Mauric to deliver the vessels between 2022 and 2025.
POMs will measure 80 meters in length and will embark up to 53 personnel. The ships will be equipped with the Airbus Helicopters VSR700 unmanned aerial vehicle, which completed first flight trials recently, and the capability to deploy response boats in addition to supporting diving operations.
