SSBN Le Triomphant Enters Testing Phase

After 20 months of maintenance and upgrading in dock no. 8 at the Brest naval base, the nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) Le Triomphant was transferred to the operational base at Ile Longue, Brittany, on Tuesday, April 14.

Work on the vessel is continuing for DCNS and its partners. Le Triomphant is the third French SSBN reconfigured for the M51 in the operational cycle.

A thirty-month refit, 4 million hours of work by 1,000 persons, 45 contractors, 30,000 items of equipment removed, overhauled and refitted, 1.3 million parts procured, a three-shift, 6 days a week work organisation – this is all it took to finish the maintenance.

Nothing but superlatives for this programme of maintenance, upgrading and reconfiguring for the M51 missile, carried out by DCNS with French defence procurement agency DGA and French Navy fleet support service SSF as joint clients. The full programme of reconfiguration work on board the submarine to accommodate the new M51 missiles, replacing the M45s, constitutes a real industrial challenge. This exceptional refit is consequently one of the major programmes of the DCNS group in terms of both its technical sophistication and its industrial magnitude.

In addition to the complete upkeep programme, carried out regularly on this class of submarine, and the reconfiguration to accommodate the new M51 ballistic missile, the navigation, communication and combat systems have been upgraded. Because of their size (138 metres long, 12,500 tons), onboard technologies at the cutting edge of scientific progress, and the constraints relating to their use in operations, these submarines are among the most complex systems produced in the world.

With the completion of the work in Brest, the submarine has been transferred to the operational base at Ile Longue, where DCNS and its partners are going to be busy in particular with the final phase of reconfiguration for the M51 missile. There will be several months of testing before the SSBN returns to the operational cycle.

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Image: DCNS