Chirac’s `stealthy’ reception committee

“We’re a ship for the 21st century,” announces this futuristic warship’s Captain Marcus Claude, before offering this writer a sneak view on board.

Stealth technology, which first shot to prominence in American fighter aircraft, involves the use of composite materials, special paint and smooth angles to deflect radar waves and create a drastically reduced Radar Cross Section (the image of the ship as it appears on a radar), also called RCS.

The Surcouf which displaces 3700 tonnes would appear as a 400-tonne patrol boat on an enemy radar screen thanks to its special radar absorbent paint and smooth-angled silhouette which bounces off radar waves.

This capability comes handy when facing attack from lethal sea-skimming anti-ship missiles, Captain Claude explains. “This is the first ship with a natural anti-missile capability since it has a very small RCS, offering the missile a smaller target area.”

The ship’s interior is like something out of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise. Nearly a 100 computers run the ship’s communications and weapon systems.The case of an attack on the boat from a lethal anti-ship missile screaming in at wave-top height is a classic case of defence. “My men just sit and read the panels, the computers take the decision to engage the target,” reveals Captain Claude. The ship’s computers launch decoys to confuse incoming missiles in one second.

The state-of-the-art systems can also track 400 targets simultaneously as it targets four aircraft and two missiles.