The Hellenic Navy’s third FDI warship HS Formion has started her first sea trials in Lorient, France, Naval Group has announced.
The defence prime posted images on social media this week of the Kimon-class frigate setting sail from Naval Group’s shipyard in Lorient, Brittany to begin her tests.
The first-in-class Frégate de Défense et d’Intervention (Defence and Intervention Frigate or FDI) built for the Greek Armed Forces, HS Kimon, was commissioned in January this year, having been launched in late 2023.
In November last year it was announced that the Hellenic Navy would acquire a fourth FDI warship, as well as securing a series of additional capability upgrades across the other three vessels.
The Greek FDIs are a more heavily armed version of the original FDI warships conceived as a new class of “first rank” French frigates — other nations would usually classify them as destroyers, but the French Navy doesn’t use the term.
Five FDIs have been ordered for the French Navy; the first-in-class, Amiral Ronarc’h, has been delivered and is currently undergoing the usual extensive French post-acceptance sea trials; she is expected to be officially commissioned this summer.
The FDIs are multipurpose warships with a range of air defence, anti-submarine warfare, anti-ship and asymmetric warfare capabilities. Each ship is 122m long, displaces just under 4,500 tonnes, and is capable of a maximum speed of about 27 knots.
FDIs have a range of about 5,000 nautical miles and are armed with Exocet anti-ship missiles and Aster 15 or 30 and MIstral-Simbad surface-to-air missiles, as well as MU90 torpedoes.
They can embark either NH90 or H160M helicopters as well as a rotary-wing Airbus VSR700 uncrewed aerial system (UAS).
In the Greek FDI programme, the second warship, HS Nearchos, has also been launched; both are expected to be commissioned by mid-2027.
The more recently confirmed fourth warship, HS Themistokles, is expected to enter service in mid-2029.
- You can read more details on about the FDI on the Naval Group website