Naval Group

As industrial contractor, designer and overall integrator of whole warships and combat systems, Naval Group is an international player.

Thanks to exceptional know-how and industrial resources, it designs, builds, integrates, dismantles and deconstructs and provides through-life support for submarines and surface ships. It is thanks to the group that France is a member of the select circle of nations capable of producing Ship Subsurface Ballistic Nuclear (SSBN) submarines. France is also one of the few countries to have an excellent naval aviation, the flagship of which is the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, a symbol of French deterrence, designed and maintained by Naval Group.

Via its ten production sites in France, all experts in a key part of the naval defence value chain, and from its international subsidiaries, Naval Group builds a unique range of products and services for each navy. An offer adapted to its own needs and local challenges.

Our purpose

A collective reflection

In the fall 2021, many employees volunteered to join or facilitate working groups dedicated to Naval Group’s purpose. During six months, their reflection on what Naval Group brings to society has led to the emergence of many proposals, on which nearly 8,000 people expressed themselves during the survey conducted in May 2022. The purpose consists of a summary sentence and an explanatory text includind all the terms that have generated strong employees support. To define our purpose is to affirm what Naval Group brings to society.

We deliver power at sea

The sea brings us together. Naval Group, an industrial company for sovereignty, is dedicated to serving the sailors who protect their country, and plays an essential role in the French deterrence. Drawing on the diversity and engagement of its talents and its centuries-old industrial tradition, Naval Group designs, produces and maintains high-performance, sustainable and reliable ships, systems, equipment and services to ensure the superiority and availability of fleets. Through the excellence of its know-how and its passion for innovation, Naval Group is responsibly shaping tomorrow’s naval industry.

Our values

Commitment

The commitment of each person to achieve the group’s objectives

Respect

Respect for customers, the group's contributors, and stakeholders

Conquest

Winning mindset, essential for gaining new market shares

High standards

Holding ourselves and others to high standards

Trust

Confidence in management, with regard to employees and within the company

Our main assignment

To fully satisfy our customers

To fully satisfy our customers by supplying them with the naval systems needed to defend their national interests.
Naval Group designs, builds, modernises and provides through-life support for navy ships, trains their crews and designs and operates their naval infrastructures.

Strategic plan (2022-2031)

Over the next ten years, Naval Group has set itself the strategic ambition of:

aiming for profitable growth, balanced between the activities run in France and internationally;
accelerating innovation, a vector of competitiveness;
maintaining its pivotal role in European alliances and strategic partnerships, such as the creation of the Naviris joint-venture with its Italian partner Fincantieri;
improving its competitiveness and the efficiency of its industrial processes;
maintaining and developing key skills, in particular those specific to the group;
affirming its unique positioning as whole warship designer and integrator prime contractor, managing the entire life cycle.

€4,257bn

revenue

€14.4bn

in the order book, of which €3.376bn placed in 2023

16 325

employees

10

sites in France

17

countries

83,9 %

satisfaction rate of the French Navy for service provision programs

400 years of naval innovation

Naval Group is the legacy of nearly 400 years of naval innovation and excellence. Major technological, industrial and social advances have marked its history, from the first arsenals created by Cardinal Richelieu in 1631 to the launch of the Suffren, the first Barracuda-class submarine, in 2019. All of them contributed to the superiority of the French Navy, one of the largest navies in the world, and to the leadership of Naval Group.

1751

A naval gun foundry is set up in Ruelle.

1778

The Lorient arsenal succeeds the Compagnie des Indes.

1858

Launch of La Gloire, the first ironclad frigate.

1899

Launch of Le Narval in Cherbourg, the ancestor of the modern submarine.

1967

Launch of Le Redoutable, the first ship subsurface ballistic nuclear submarine.

1996

Entry into service of the La Fayette-class stealth frigates.

2003

DCN becomes a state-owned private limited company.

2007

Development of the combat system for the FREMM multi-mission frigate, one of the most advanced in the world.

2008

World first landing of an automatic drone on a frigate in navigation.

2017

DCNS becomes Naval Group.

2019

Launch of Le Suffren, the first Barracuda-class submarine.

2019

Naval Group revolutionises the conventional-propulsion submarine sector with 3rd-generation Air Independent Propulsion (AIP).

2020

Launch of the future French nuclear aircraft carrier program (PA-Ng).

2021

Launch of the third-generation ballistic missile nuclear submarine program (3G SSBN).

Products of rare complexity

Amongst the most complex products designed by humanity, Ship Subsurface Ballistic Nuclear (SSBN) submarines are in a league of their own. One million components and 15 million hours of work were needed to build Le Terrible, France’s newest SSBN, while an airliner requires “only” 100,000 parts and 50,000 hours of work.