French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, recently confirmed the objective of strengthening the French Navy by increasing its fleet to eighteen first-rank frigates. This announcement was made in Le Parisien on February 22, 2025, in response to an increasingly tense international context and an operational workload that far exceeds the strategic guidelines previously established. Currently, the French fleet consists of fifteen frigates, including five La Fayette-class ships, which until recently were not classified as first-rank vessels.
For several years, the French Navy has been advocating for an expansion of its fleet to meet the growing intensity of its missions. In 2017, Admiral Christophe Prazuck, then Chief of Staff of the Navy, had already pointed out the outdated nature of the operational contracts defined by the 2013 White Paper on Defense and National Security. That document outlined that the Navy was to conduct two permanent missions—deterrence and protection—while maintaining deployment capabilities in two operational theaters. However, in practice, it currently operates in five, significantly straining both personnel and equipment.