Hi all!
Horizon-class Frigate (French version)
These two ships are what's left of France's plan to procure eight air defence destroyers in a joint project with Italy and Great Britain; when the project was launched in the 1990s, no less than 26 units were planned (12 for the UK, 8 for France and 6 for Italy. Similar in capability to Britain's Type 45 - itself a direct offspring of the Horizon project, if larger, more seaworthy and generally more sophisticated - these ships are full-blown destroyers in all but name. As with FREMM, the French version is somewhat less capable than the Italian, with only two rather than three 76mm guns; the SADRAL missile CIWS originally planned was never installed (the spot is now occupied by the rear jammer array). As completed, Forbin and Chevalier Paul had two 20mm F1 cannon abreast the foremast and mounts for four 12,7mm HMGs (two amidships, two forward at the bow).
The 20mm cannon were recently replaced with three 20mm remote controllable guns (the third one is center aft on top of the hangar); otherwise, there were few changes so far.
Both ships are in for a major midlife update, which however will mainly concern electronics.
Cheers
GD
![[ img ]](http://shipbucket.com/wiki/images/9/90/76mm62_Compact.png)