Non-Subscriber Extract
Interview: Jean-Marie Poimboeuf, chief executive officer, DCNS
By J A C Lewis
30 January 2008
Only by maintaining a high level of expenditure on new ships and technology can France preserve its naval construction skills, Jean-Marie Poimboeuf, chief executive officer of warship builder DCNS, has warned the French government.
France is currently drafting both a White Paper on defence and a military allocation plan to cover the period 2009-14. With strategy considerations on one hand and spending decisions on the other, the government called on military leaders and defence industry chiefs to share their views.
Poimboeuf told a White Paper committee that France's four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) built by DCNS formed the core of the country's nuclear deterrent.
"And if you want to maintain the deterrent, you must continue nurturing the skills that go into building a strategic submarine; otherwise you will quickly lose that know-how," he said.
Speaking to Jane's, Poimboeuf highlighted a recent United States study that stated that a million separate parts are involved in the construction of SSBNs (known in France as SNLEs).
"When you count the number of hours required to design and build it, and the amount of technology involved - nuclear, space, communications, information systems and missiles - the boat is 30 times more complicated to make than a fighter aircraft," he said. "Only three countries master that technology at the moment: the US, Russia and France."
DCNS is currently constructing a final Triomphant-class SSBN, Le Terrible, which is due to enter service in 2010. The French Defence Ministry ordered the first of six Barracuda nuclear attack submarines (SSNs) in late 2006 under a programme expected to cost EUR7.9 billion (USD11.6 billion), with deliveries spread over the period 2016-27.
Elsewhere, submarines currently in service are to be renovated in order to be able to deploy France's new 9,000 km-range M51 nuclear missile.
Image: DCNS is building the French Barracuda nuclear attack submarine