Decca RM1290 landing radars along with ARBG-1A Saïgon communications intercept, CSF ARBR 16A radar intercept electronic surveillance systems and two Dagaie decoy systems. The frigate is equipped with a helicopter landing pad located on the stern and a hangar. The ship is capable of operating the embarked Eurocopter AS565 Panther up to sea state 5. The ship is capable of operating helicopters up to the size of the Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma. The ship has a complement of 90 including the aircrew and officers and 24 marines with capacity for a further 13 personnel. Construction and career Germinal was ordered as part of the third pair in January 1991 from Chantiers de l'Atlantique for construction at their yard in Saint-Nazaire, France, and the keel was laid down on 17 August 1992. The frigate was built using modular construction methods, which reduced the vessel's construction time. Germinal was launched on 13 March 1993 and commissioned into the French Navy on 18 May 1994. Following sea trials, Germinal sailed for Arsenal de Lorient, Lorient where the weapons and sensors were installed and underwent further trials. The vessel is stationed in the Antilles (Fort-de-France) for patrol duties in the Caribbean Sea. In 1997, Germinal was part of the French naval presence in the Gulf of Guinea, known as the Corymbe Mission. That year, the frigate participated in Operation Espadon, evacuating French nationals from Sierra Leone. In January 2009, Germinal was reassigned from the UNIFIL mission along the Lebanese coast to a surveillance mission along the Gaza coast for ten days, beginning on 24 January. In 2014, while stationed at Fort-de-France, Martinique, the frigate intercepted a smuggler go-fast boat with of cocaine aboard. The smugglers were turned over to the Colombian frigate . In March 2015, Germinal, with support, intercepted another go-fast, this time off the coast of Barbados. The frigate seized of cocaine and of marijuana. On 19 June 2015 Germinal caught up with a sailboat making a trans-Atlantic crossing southeast of Martinique. The two crew of the sailboat were apprehended and of cocaine intended for Europe was seized. In April 2016, Germinal caught another go-fast, roughly from the Martinique coast and seized of marijuana. In October, the frigate intercepted a transfer of of cocaine between a go fast and a fishing boat from Dominica. Then on the night of 17/18 November, while operating off the coast of Guajira Peninsula, Colombia, Germinal took