The French Navy has contracted Colfax Corporation to provide oil pumps and other fluid-handling systems for the navy’s under-construction Barracuda Class nuclear attack submarines.
Under the contract, the fluid-handling solutions company will deliver oil pumping systems with low noise and vibration levels that will allow the submarines to operate as quietly as possible to avoid detection.
Six Barracuda nuclear-powered attack submarines currently being built by the French shipbuilder Direction des Constructions Navales Services (DCNS) will replace the navy’s existing four SSN Rubis submarines.
The 85m-long submarine has a surfaced displacement capacity of 4,100t. The maximum speed is 25kt and the diving depth more than 350m.
The first of six submarines, the Suffren, is scheduled to enter service between 2016 and 2027. The first pumping system is expected to be delivered to DCNS at the start of 2010.
