Sweden Considers French Defense Frigates to Strengthen Naval Power in Baltic Sea.

[pandion]

To add to the above, I haven’t been able to read the full srticle as it’s paywalled, but I saw the below snippet posted which is rather interesting. It suggests that the French have offered to transfer a hull built for the French navy to Sweden in order to accelerate the delivery process. That could be a very enticing aspect as viewed from the Swedish perspective.

How much effort would there be in the conversion? I presume part would be accepting the ship largely with the equipment the French Navy ordered, rather than what the Swedish Navy wants. The other really big one would be changing all of the signage and placards from French to Swedish.

It is really a dilemma! If this first ship retains French weapons and electronics etc - will the next three also be so configured in the name of class standardization? Or will the first one be one of a kind with the next three having Swedish weapons etc? Haste is understandable but it may have negative consequences all through the life of the ship(s). In this situation - what can the Spainards offer when squeezed?

[Dagooz]

To add to the above, I haven’t been able to read the full srticle as it’s paywalled, but I saw the below snippet posted which is rather interesting. It suggests that the French have offered to transfer a hull built for the French navy to Sweden in order to accelerate the delivery process. That could be a very enticing aspect as viewed from the Swedish perspective.

How much effort would there be in the conversion? I presume part would be accepting the ship largely with the equipment the French Navy ordered, rather than what the Swedish Navy wants. The other really big one would be changing all of the signage and placards from French to Swedish.

It is really a dilemma! If this first ship retains French weapons and electronics etc - will the next three also be so configured in the name of class standardization? Or will the first one be one of a kind with the next three having Swedish weapons etc? Haste is understandable but it may have negative consequences all through the life of the ship(s). In this situation - what can the Spainards offer when squeezed?

Could also simply be that the hull is nearly completed but have not been fitted yet. Would make it simpler to equip Swedish weaponry.

[pandion]

How much effort would there be in the conversion? I presume part would be accepting the ship largely with the equipment the French Navy ordered, rather than what the Swedish Navy wants. The other really big one would be changing all of the signage and placards from French to Swedish.

It is really a dilemma! If this first ship retains French weapons and electronics etc - will the next three also be so configured in the name of class standardization? Or will the first one be one of a kind with the next three having Swedish weapons etc? Haste is understandable but it may have negative consequences all through the life of the ship(s). In this situation - what can the Spainards offer when squeezed?

Could also simply be that the hull is nearly completed but have not been fitted yet. Would make it simpler to equip Swedish weaponry.

The information is that the ship has been delivered to the French navy and is currently working up but not yet accepted, therefore available for such a deal.

[Micael]

Translated from a French article reporting on this:

But according to the business weekly Affärsvärlden , which cites "well-informed sources," the Swedish Navy's Chief of Staff, Admiral Johan Norlén, favors the third option proposed in this tender: the French Naval Group's Defense and Intervention Frigate (FDI/Admiral Ronarc'h class). And for a simple reason: unlike the other two, this ship is already operational.

According to Affärsvärlden, the fact that France could offer an "existing ship, fully equipped with air defense systems and missiles, by selling a vessel from its own fleet" would be a decisive factor. "This would give Sweden the opportunity to begin training its crews and gaining experience several years earlier than with other considered solutions," it writes.

It is unlikely that the FDI "Amiral Ronarc'h" will be affected, as it is currently undergoing its long-term deployment in preparation for its upcoming commissioning. However, given that the FDI Amiral Louzeau is scheduled for delivery to the French Navy in 2028, it is possible that it will ultimately be deployed to Sweden… especially since the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) has recently promoted the "white hull" concept.Fighter jets

"On the issue of innovative financing, for example, we anticipate orders, we finance white hulls of first-rate frigates, which allows us to optimize production planning, reduce prices and make the equipment immediately available for an export [customer]," explained Emmanuel Chiva, then Delegate General for Armaments, during a parliamentary hearing last October.

He added: “We have ordered defense and intervention frigates, and we are analyzing export prospects. This ‘white hull’ approach allows us to adjust whether this frigate will be for France or for export. […] Some countries will launch competitions. If France wins them, we will be able to respond within the deadlines.”

As a reminder, with a displacement of 4,500 tons and a length of 122 meters, the FDI is equipped with a KingKlip Mk2 hull-mounted sonar, a CAPTAS-4 towed array sonar, the SENTINEL electronic warfare suite, the Aquilon integrated naval communications system, Sylver A50 vertical launchers for Aster 15 and Aster 30 missiles, a 76mm gun turret, remotely operated 20mm cannons, MU-90 torpedoes, and Exocet anti-ship missiles. Finally, it can operate an NH90 helicopter and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

That said, experience in recent years suggests a degree of caution, as the preferences expressed by military leaders were not always confirmed at the political level. The Swedish weekly suggests that, a priori, the ALFA 4000 option is considered "the least likely."

The Luleå program is therefore expected to be a contest between Naval Group and the Saab/Babcock consortium, given that, as noted by the newspaper Dagens Industri, excluding the latter would have "major industrial repercussions for the Swedish defense industry." The winner is expected to be announced by the end of this semester.

https://www.opex360.com/2026/05/14/la-m ... la-france/#

[Micael]

A press conference will be held tomorrow morning at 9 am aboard a Visby class corvette by the prime minister, defense minister and supreme commander. Per sources to SVT they will present which supplier has been selected for the new frigates. This will be interesting, as well as how the political fallout from whichever country isn’t selected will be handled. (Referring here to which of the UK and France as I suspect that Spain isn’t vested in the affair to the point of making a big fuss over it.)

[Micael]

Without getting ahead of things, I’ll also note that there’s a French FREMM frigate currently moored in central Stockholm right where this press conference is to take place. Could be a coincidence, but if it is and the FDI is not selected that could be slightly awkvard.

[Micael]

The French FDI frigate it is.

[Zen9]

Congratulations to Naval Group and a good choice by the Swedish Navy.

Not so good for Babcock

https://x.com/NavyLookout/status/205664 ... 11/photo/1

[Micael]

A little bit more here:

Sweden chooses Naval Group

Sweden has selected French Naval Group as the supplier of four new frigates of the Luleå class, based on the FDI concept and with planned first delivery in 2030. The announcement was presented by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Defence Minister Pål Jonson and marks a deepened Swedish-French defence cooperation.
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Sweden chooses Naval Group
Graphics, Naval Groups FDI
Photo: Naval Group
The Swedish government has selected (in a so-called down select process) French company Naval Group as the supplier of the Swedish Armed Forces' new frigates within the Luleå class. The announcement was presented at a press conference aboard a Visby-class corvette at Skeppsbron in Stockholm (capital, Sweden) by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Minister of Defence Pål Jonson, together with Supreme Commander Michael Claesson.

Minister of Defence Pål Jonson stated at the press conference that the reasons for selecting the French bid include the possibility of rapid delivery and technical maturity, cost-sharing with France and Greece, and the fact that the design already incorporates a proven air defence system.

The Minister of Defence further explained that the vessels will be equipped with the ASTER 30 air defence system, capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, and the medium-range air defence system CAMM-ER (a variant of those being installed on Sweden's Visby-class corvettes), which can provide protection against cruise missiles and combat aircraft.

Pål Jonson also stated that the government intends for the frigates to be equipped with systems from the Swedish defence industry, including Saab's RBS15 anti-ship missile, Torpedo 47, G1X radar, and Trackfire weapon stations, as well as a 57mm general-purpose gun and a 40mm general-purpose cannon from BAE Systems Bofors.

The selection means that the Swedish Navy will receive four frigates based on Naval Group's FDI (Frégate de Défense et d'Intervention) concept. The vessels displace approximately 4,000 tonnes and are designed for air defence and anti-submarine warfare.

According to details surrounding the French bid, Naval Group has offered a delivery schedule in which the first fully equipped frigate could be delivered to Sweden in 2030.

The background to the French offer was highlighted earlier this year when Nordic Defence Sector (NDS) visited the French frigate Amiral Ronarc'h in Gothenburg (western Sweden) and interviewed France's Ambassador to Sweden, Thierry Carlier. The Ambassador described Sweden at the time as a central partner for Europe's future defence cooperation.

"Now is the time to seriously develop autonomous, European defence industry solutions together between Sweden and France. We have both the expertise and the industrial assets to do so," said Thierry Carlier in the interview with NDS.

The FDI class is already in service with the French Navy and has also been ordered by Greece. The vessels are designed for a high degree of digitalisation and advanced air defence and anti-submarine warfare capability.

"I thank Sweden and see this as an expression of the trust that exists between our two countries," wrote French President Emmanuel Macron on X.

"Following France's decision to acquire Saab's GlobalEye to replace our airborne early warning aircraft, this is a strategically important decision that demonstrates the mutual trust between France and Sweden," Macron continued.

[Straker]

Disappointing for Babcock but I really don't think they could have achieved the 2030 timeframe. It will be interesting to see what happens with the other systems not mentioned, e.g. CMS and ECM one of the complaints I have read about products bought from Naval Group is that the support contracts for subsystems start to get very expensive once they have you locked into it with a vessel in service.

Honestly they look like very capable vessels and I'm glad to see CAMM-ER getting further buyers; now we just need the Royal Navy to buy into them for the Type 26 and 31. Alongside a purchase as part of Land Ceptor it would give us a far more capable mid-range system even when compared to CAMM for only a small increase in little additional cost.

[Micael]

Yes, one question mark is what combat system will be used. Will the Thales one be kept (which is integrated with the ship already), or will the Saab one be installed instead (which is integrated with everything else in Sweden plus is familiar to crews)? While I think that the Saab one would be better for us per se, we’re going to have to balance things very carefully so as to not go overboard with modifications and thereby risking delays that we can afford.

[Micael]

To add to the previous post, I had the time to watch the full press conference now and the question was posed as to what combat system there would be and while the supreme commander didn’t answer in absolutes he did note that the FDI platform has got an integrated command system which is certified by NATO, and which is a part of the Swedish requirements. I take that to mean that plan A is to retain the French system.

[Calder]

I am just another clueless American, so I am not going to claim to have a deep understanding of Sweden's defense needs, so this is more a question than a definitive statement. But given that the Iran and Ukraine wars have proven how vulnerable frigates are to drones both on the sea and in the air in constricted waters. Wouldn't Sweden be better off investing more in fighters to cover the Baltic than in frigates? I would think you would get a hell of a lot more capability, firepower, and roles for the money with Gripens than you would with frigates.

Unless I am misunderstanding the primary use case for the Frigates. Are they intended more for use in the open sea than in the Baltic?

[Micael]

I am just another clueless American, so I am not going to claim to have a deep understanding of Sweden's defense needs, so this is more a question than a definitive statement. But given that the Iran and Ukraine wars have proven how vulnerable frigates are to drones both on the sea and in the air in constricted waters. Wouldn't Sweden be better off investing more in fighters to cover the Baltic than in frigates? I would think you would get a hell of a lot more capability, firepower, and roles for the money with Gripens than you would with frigates.

Unless I am misunderstanding the primary use case for the Frigates. Are they intended more for use in the open sea than in the Baltic?

I think it can be boiled down to a few specific primary use cases:

*Sea control as opposed to sea denial which has been the primary game for the last few decades at least. This requires larger platforms with longer endurance and more overall capability. Fighter based anti-ship strike has played a major part in the sea denial role for use, and will remain of course, but it is less useful on its own for sea control.
*Mobile and forward positioned high end air defense asset (including ABM capability) that can act as a picket ship out in the Baltic Sea and intercept incoming from Russia as part of the IADS.
*High end escort vessel. To some extent in general, as for keeping mechant shipping going, but in particular for troop/equipment/resupply transports for our own and other NATO forces in the Baltic states.
*Operations elsewhere in the NATO sphere, both as necessary in a full blown hot war for instance out in the North Atlantic, but also in situations where we participate in operations such as may be required relating to situations such as the one in the Middle East.

[Micael]

Here’s the official news item from the armed forces, it touches on a bit of the aspects I wrote about above:

French frigates for the Swedish Armed Forces
Headquarters - Publication date: May 19, 2026 at 09:14
Last updated: yesterday at: 08:48
The government has decided that Sweden will purchase four frigates from France. The ships will be delivered from 2030 and are part of the navy's changed tasks since Sweden joined NATO.

Sweden to buy four frigates from France
Sweden is purchasing four frigates to be delivered from 2030. Photo: SALE - Pierre Ollier
On Tuesday, May 19, the government decided to instruct the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration to begin negotiations with France to order four new frigates. The frigates are to be delivered from 2030 and will be of the FDI class, which stands for Frégate de Défense et d'Intervention.

Larger ships were needed

It was in the 2020 defense decision that the government decided that Sweden would be strengthened with new surface combat ships. At first, there was talk of a similar solution to the Visby class but larger in size to accommodate more advanced weapons and sensors. Then there was war in Ukraine and Sweden joined NATO, which changed the conditions.

– As allies, we must think more broadly, we move from contesting the control of others to establishing maritime control ourselves and together with others and dominating the area to create the security and stability that results, says Commander-in-Chief Michael Claesson.



Minister of Defense Pål Jonsson, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and ÖB Michael Claesson.
The purchase was presented at a press conference with Minister of Defense Pål Jonson, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and ÖB Michael Claesson. Photo: Ola Jacobsen / Swedish Armed Forces
Air defense capability

ÖB also emphasizes the importance of the ships as mobile air defense platforms with the task of securing flows at sea. These flows are of great importance in keeping ourselves and our neighbors in Finland and the Baltics supplied with civil and military logistics and supplies.

– This is not just a ship for the maritime domain. This is a very complex system that, integrated with other domains, represents highly qualified air defense and triples the Swedish qualified air defense capability. For the Armed Forces, this is a major increase in capabilities. It is now continuing to be delivered on defense decision 24, says ÖB.

New role for the navy

ÖB continues by explaining that the recent conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and Iran have clearly demonstrated the need for qualified air defense in which frigates will become an important part.

– With NATO membership, the role of the navy has changed. In addition to asserting Swedish territorial integrity, we must now also ensure and protect transport across the sea, to us and to our allies. We must also contribute to the alliance's needs outside our immediate vicinity, which requires larger ships with qualified air defense and longer endurance, says Navy Chief Johan Norlén.

The frigates have the option of a ship-based helicopter for submarine hunting, among other things. There is room on board for a larger crew than today's ships, which also provides longer endurance.

– The Luleå-class frigates are the workplace of the future for the navy's sailors and officers. I know how much they, like me, look forward to welcoming HMS Luleå, HMS Norrköping, HMS Halmstad and HMS Trelleborg to the navy.

[Micael]

A bit of a comment on the changes intended to be made for the Swedish version, as mentioned so far:

While there is an aspect of giving some work to Swedish companies involved here, there’s more to it than that.

Torped 47: The change in torpedo system is perhaps the most necessary of all. It is optimized for the unique conditions of the Baltic Sea, and frankly all others available aren’t. It is also larger and heavier than the rest, and is essentially brand new. Fitting anything but it would be cause for eyebrow raising.

RBS-15: Here there are options available, but we’re in the process of introducing the latest version of it on all other relevant platforms, and to go for something else for just these four ships would just mean an unnecessary headache.

Bofors 57 mm, 40 mm, and Saab Trackfire RWS:
These are all at the core of our close in anti-drone capability that is being established both on land and aboard ships. We’ve put significant effort over the last couple of years into sharpening the anti-drone setup, including through a rapid upgrade of the Visby class corvettes, and by all accounts where we’ve arrived is a pretty solid place. By going for a setup which we’re confident works for close in air defense we ensure that the frigates enter service with a solid defensive capability against this new field of threats.

Saab Giraffe 1X: This is likely connected to the above, this radar is quickly becoming the go-to system for detecting small, low RCS, threats. It for instance fills this role for our new land based anti-drone setup. Adding it is presumably to supplement the main radar which be less optimized for this particular role. As an added bonus it could potentially act as an emergency backup to the main radar if it is knocked offline in a critical situation. The interesting question to me is where they’re planning on mounting it. There seems to be relatively limited options for placing it aboard the FDI design. We’ll have to wait and see I guess.

Relevant to all systems mentioned above is that we’re already going to be straining our logistics chains with regards to introducing new spare parts and munitions. By specifying some systems that are already in service elsewhere in the armed forces will alleviate that issue slightly, and reduce the number of spare parts in the pool.

[Micael]

The defense material administration has initiated contract negotiations. Good to keep up the pace.

FMV begins negotiations about the Luleå class
FMV has been commissioned by the cabinet to initiate negotiations with the French Naval Group with the aim of acquiring four new frigates for the Swedish Navy. The assignment follows the market survey that FMV conducted in 2025 and the results of the negotiations will be reported back to the cabinet. Only then can FMV receive a new assignment from the cabinet to enter into agreements and finally order the new ships.

– In preparation for this government assignment, we have prepared a negotiation plan and have therefore been able to begin the negotiation process immediately. But it is a complex negotiation and ultimately it is of course based on us reaching an agreement with the supplier, says Olof Öhrström, Head of Ship Systems at FMV.

The FDI or Frégate de Défence et d'Intervention meets the capability requirements set by the Swedish Armed Forces and is currently used by the French and Greek navies. It is a ready-made design that is in series production and thus has a relatively high delivery reliability.

– The focus is to acquire a so-called catalog ship with as few adaptations as possible. At the same time, it will be integrated into the Swedish Navy so some Swedish systems will be included, not least weapons systems, says Olof Öhrström.

Air defense and anti-submarine warfare are core capabilities and the ships will be equipped with Aster 30 and CAMM-ER. The requirements also include integration of a number of Swedish systems such as RBS15, Torped 47, Giraffe 1X radar, 57 mm and 40 mm guns and Trackfire.

[Micael]

Corporal Frisk has written a fairly long article on this at his blog, which has some interesting points in it:
https://corporalfrisk.com/2026/05/25/a- ... or-sweden/

[Micael]

Here’s an interesting point from the above article, while I agree with the author that we’re less likely to see this solution it would be quite a potent one.

An interesting detail is that while the obvious location of the 40 mm Bofors Mk 4 is on the centreline above the hangar, the location reserved for the close-in weapon systems on the current vessels – the French being fitted for but not with the MPLS while the Greek will have the RAM Block 2 – it is rumoured that during early stages of the FDI (then called FTI) project an alternative was looked into which would have seen the gun suite being made up by a single 57 mm Bofors in place of the eventual 76 mm OTO, backed up by two 40 mm Bofors guns in the locations now occupied by the 20 mm Narwhal RWS (in other words one in one of the rear corner on top of the superstructure, and one in the front part of the opposite bridge wing). This would have been in the interest of strengthening the air defences of the vessel. Whether that layout is possible even in theory on the final design such as it emerged is unclear to me, but if so would provide 360o coverage with 40 mm weapons, which certainly would be an extremely strong defensive layout. Looking at the bridge wing of the Amiral Ronarc’h my impression is that it is too narrow, but as the 40 mm mount require relatively little below the deck, increasing the size of the wing might be possible. However, more likely is the mentioned straight replacement of the Narwhal with the Trackfire and the RAM Block 2 with the 40 mm Bofors, but let’s wait and see until more details appear from the project.

[Micael]

Xavier Vavasseur, Naval News:

I met with Naval Group's VP of sales, Europe and North America, for a brief update on the Lulea-class frigate program
The French shipbuilder is very confident they will deliver the first ship in 2030
I learned the SAM configuration for the "Swedish FDI" consists in 24x Aster 30 + 24x CAMM-ER (cold launched from a new launcher developed in-house by Naval Group)
Swedish weapon systems include Bofors 57mm and 40mm guns, RBS15 (Robotsystem 15) ASM and Torped 47 / SLWT (Saab's Lightweight Torpedo)
Stay tuned for the video coverage...

Interesting about the SAM config.