Aquitaine is a frigate in service with the French Navy. She is the lead ship of her class of French frigates, which in turn were developed by the FREMM multipurpose frigate program.
Service
Aquitaine was developed as part of a joint Franco-Italian program known as FREMM, which was implemented to develop a new class of frigates for use by various European navies. Construction on the ship began in 2007 and was completed in 2012.
In April 2018 Aquitaine participated in the April 2018 missile strikes against Syria alongside her sister ships Auvergne and Languedoc.
In July 2026, Aquitaine deployed to Dublin Bay to provide air-defence coverage for visiting European heads of government during Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union. To comply with constitutional restrictions regarding foreign military operations within Irish territory, the frigate remained stationed just beyond Ireland's 12-nautical-mile (22 km) territorial waters. An Irish Naval Service officer was embarked aboard the ship as a liaison to provide final authorisation under Irish Defence Forces rules of engagement (COD 6) in the event of an interception or engagement over Irish airspace.