After 19 days spent in the Black Sea the French Navy frigate “Auvergne” (D654) transited Bosphorus towards Mediterranean this morning. Thirty-one ships from NATO’s non-Black Sea countries visited the Black Sea in 2021, the largest number since 2014.
The Auvergne Aquitaine-class frigate is armed with two Sylver A50 vertical launch systems for a total of 16 MBDA Aster 15 or 30 surface-to-air missiles, one Leonardo OTO Melara 76 mm SR naval gun, three Nexter 20 mm Narwhal remote weapon systems, eight MBDA MM-40 Exocet block 3 anti-ship missiles, 16-cell MBDA SYLVER A70 VLS for 16 MBDA MdCN naval land-attack cruise missiles and two double Leonardo (WASS) B-515 launcher for MU 90 torpedoes.