What You Need to Know: France is modernizing its undersea force with the new Suffren-class nuclear-powered attack submarines, replacing aging Rubis-class boats.
-The second-in-class Duguay-Trouin joined the fleet in 2024, featuring advanced stealth, expanded range, and versatile firepower—including torpedoes, anti-ship missiles, and land-attack cruise missiles.
-Built to address evolving threats like advanced acoustics and undersea drones, these indigenous French subs align with the U.S. Navy’s Virginia-class approach. Enhanced computing, quieting technologies, and potential interoperability with NATO allies bolster the Suffren’s capabilities.
-With six planned boats, France is poised to significantly improve its undersea warfare posture, extending both national and allied strategic reach.
Suffren vs. Virginia-Class: Comparing Two Advanced Nuclear Sub Fleets
The French Navy is surging along with efforts to build a fleet of six new high-tech, highly capable Suffren-Class submarines, boats intended to move undersea warfare ability beyond the country’s current Rubis-class capabilities.
The arrival of this new class of submarines raises interesting questions about how France has advanced undersea warfare in a way that addresses changing threats.
Due to the pace of technological change, such as advanced acoustics and undersea drones, existing attack submarines are much easier for adversaries to detect and attack.
The US has taken aggressive steps to mitigate these new threats with its Virginia-class submarines, and France is likely pursuing a similar approach.
New Suffren-class Submarines for France
The second boat in the Suffren-class, called the Duguay-Trouin, entered operational service in April of 2024.
The first-in-class submarine, the Suffren, entered service in 2022 as a significant first step in bringing the French Navy into a new era.
At the time of the Duguay-Trouin launch, an essay from Naval News cited a quote from Admiral Vaujour, Chief of Staff of the French Navy, on social media X :
“Today I declared the admission to active service of the Duguay-Trouin, the second submarine of the Suffren class. Faster, more durable, more versatile, more discreet. In the hands of our crews, it will become an outstanding fighter for future operations.“
There is not a large amount of detail about the technologies being built into the Suffren class, yet available specs to offer a cursory initial window; the Suffren-class will fire land attack cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, and heavyweight torpedoes, and the boats are described as nuclear-powered with extended range.
It appears these submarines are being built as indigenous “French” platforms, and it would indeed be relevant to discern the levels at which its advanced technologies parallel advanced US Navy Virginia-class submarines.
Suffren-Class & Virginia-Class Block III
Virginia-class Block III and beyond, for example, are now equipped with a new generation of sensing, communications systems, and coating materials for advanced stealth and quieting technologies enabled by enhanced production systems.
Does the Suffren-class incorporate some of these kinds of technologies as well?
While the Suffren boats are being built by “France,” it would not be surprising if there were some level of coordination with the U.S. Navy and other NATO members in the development realm.
Perhaps the Suffren class incorporates new levels of computing and navigational technology similar to the Virginia-class “fly-by-wire” system in which a computer system can automatically manage depth and speed while supervised by a human.
The most significant and potentially most impactful areas of advancement pertain to communications technologies related to the extent to which the Suffren-class can coordinate, share information, and exchange targeting data with US and other NATO submarines and surface ships.
US Navy Virginia-class Submarine Under Construction.
There are many technological advances in the realm of undersea communication and detection, many of which integrate Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV), increasingly capable of detecting relevant threats such as mines or enemy platforms, cataloging the information,and bringing back or even “transmitting” data to a host ship.
Should the Suffren-class submarines operate with an ability to network with a multinational NATO fleet of submarines and surface ships, the envelope of allied undersea detection, transmission, and data sharing would introduce a new generation of tactical and strategic possibilities for France and its allies.
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
