The Auguste-Bénébig will monitor Caledonia’s exclusive economic zone. Illegal fishermen… and China… are warned…
Big ceremony in the port of Noumea. The new French army patrol boat has arrived in Caledonia. It is named after Auguste Benebig, a Caledonian who enlisted with General De Gaulle in 1940 during the Second World War. The mission of this brand new ship will be to monitor New Caledonia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The vessel is 80 metres long and 12 metres wide. It is equipped with a hybrid thermal/electric propulsion system, 30 sailors, a 20 mm gun and a surveillance radar. A fixed-wing drone is on board.
A second ship will arrive in 2025
It was built by the Brest shipyards in France. It is the first of a series of six POM (overseas patrol boats), which the French Navy will acquire by 2025. Another surveillance vessel, the Jean-Tranape, will arrive in 2025. These new patrol boats, specially designed for overseas, are adapted to the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Both vessels are therefore intended to protect the area from illegal fishing vessels in the region. They are also a strong signal to China. They are part of the Indo-Pacific axis strategy, which aims to control and limit China’s influence in the area…
