The Cassardclass is a class of anti-air warfare destroyers of the French Navy. The class is an air defence variant of the. The two classes have a different armament and propulsion system mounted on an identical hull. Their primary role is to provide air cover for a fleet, an aeronaval group, a convoy & a littoral point. Their secondary role is to manage air assets coordination & aircraft control for the force, especially through Link 16.They can also be used for research, identification or presence missions. Both ships are assigned to the Force d'Action Navale. The experience gained during the design and construction of the Cassard type was used for the design of the.
Design
The Cassard-class frigate was initially designed to replace the four anti-air warfare vessels in service at the time. Initially procured with four ships in the class,, the class was cut back to two vessels after the United States chose to terminate the production of the Standard SM-1MR missile. The prolonged design period led to the plans being redrawn several times. The class shares a common hull design with the Georges Leygues class. The superstructure is composed of a lightweight aluminum alloy that is resistant to fire and corrosion. However the adoption of a similar propulsion system was abandoned early on. The hot exhaust from the Olympus turbines found on the Georges Leygues class was thought to be incompatible with the numerous arrays required in the new design. The ships are crewed by 244 personnel but can accommodate 251. The class carries one anti-submarine helicopter on a deck placed aft with a hangar provided for storage. Originally supplied with a Eurocopter AS 565 Panther, they were later replaced with the Westland Lynx. The SAMAHE 210 helicopter handling system is adaptable to different types of undercarriages on helicopters and had munitions trucks to position weapon loadouts to assist the arming of the helicopters.
Propulsion
The Cassard class is powered by four SEMT Pielstick 18 PA6V 280 BTC diesels creating a sustained driving two shafts. This gives the ships a maximum speed of and a range of at. The SEMT Pielstick diesels are capable of double super-charging. The engines are placed upon flexible mountings reducing the noise signature of the ship.
Armament
The Cassard frigates are armed with one Mk 13 launcher for the 40 Standard SM-1MR anti-air missiles. The missiles have semi-active rader homing out to at Mach 2 with a ceiling limit of. The Mk 13 single arm launchers and SPG 51 tracker/illuminators were taken off the T 47 destroyers and and refurbished. The Cassards are also provided with two Sadral sextuple launchers for 39 Mistral CIWS anti-air missiles. The Mistrals have infrared homing out to and have a warhead. They are anti-sea skimmer missiles and are able to engage incoming targets down to above sea level. For anti-ship weaponry, the class is provided with eight MM40 Exocetanti-ship missiles. The MM40 Exocet missiles are sea-skimmers with a warhead of and have a range of at Mach 0.9. The frigates also have two fixed torpedo tubes for ten L5 mod 4 torpedoes. These torpedoes have active and passive homing with a range of at. They carry a warhead and can travel to a depth of. The Cassard class is armed with a Creusot-Loire Compact 100 mm/55 Mod 68 DP gun. The gun can fire 80 rounds per minute out to in an anti-surface role and against aerial targets. Initially the class was designed to have a second 100 mm main gun on the quarterdeck, however during the design phase the guns were removed and replaced with the helicopter hangar and two Sadral launchers. The vessels are also supplied with two 20 mm F2 anti-aircraft guns and four 12.7mm machine guns.
