Altrad awarded a painting contract on the Suffren nuclear submarine (Barracuda programme) in Cherbourg, for Naval Group (June 2020, France)

For nearly 20 years, Altrad has been working with Naval Group, a French major player with global reach and a leader in naval defence. Historically, the collaboration began with the painting market for the "French Navy". But today, and since 2011, the Barracuda programme is a strong link in this partnership since it is a complete industrial market for surface preparation and coating works on benchmark military submarines. The "Confidential-Defence" accreditation that our group enjoys is a key element to be part of these types of markets. In this sector, Altrad’s experience is essential because it can respond to a genuine industrialisation process over several decades, with most often, at the beginning of the process, a very thorough preparation of the studies required to implement projects and a highly complex sequence of tasks. After the "Vigilant", a nuclear-powered submarine launcher, the "Suffren" passed into the hands of our technical coating experts, still in Cherbourg. It should be noted that the Suffren, the first nuclear attack submarine of the Barracuda series, was finalised during the summer of 2020.