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. However, as late as 2021, Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopters were also being embarked, notably in the Pacific region. In November 2022, the Eurocopter Dauphin N3 was earmarked to replace the Aérospatiale Alouette III on Prairial. 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 Prairial was ordered as part of the first pair on 20 January 1989 from Chantiers de l'Atlantique for construction at their yard in Saint-Nazaire, France, and the keel was laid down on 11 September 1990. The frigate was built using modular construction methods which reduced the vessel's construction time. Prairial was launched on 16 March 1991 and commissioned into the French Navy on 20 May 1992. Following sea trials, Prairial sailed for Arsenal de Lorient, Lorient where the weapons and sensors were installed and underwent further trials. After entering service, Prairial was assigned to the French Pacific territories, based at Tahiti. Prairial was deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce from 16 October to 29 November 1999. On 13 February 2016, the frigate intercepted a , Panamanian-flagged sailboat in Pacific waters. Three crew members were arrested and of cocaine was seized. In July 2016, Prairial participated in RIMPAC 2016, a large multi-national naval exercise off the coast of Hawaii, as the only representative of the European Union. From 27 July to 2 August 2018, the frigate took part in RIMPAC 2018. In March 2019, Prairial intercepted of cocaine after a panga was spotted adrift off the coast of Nicaragua in international waters. On 22 February 2021, Prairial was deployed from February to March 2021 in the East China Sea to assist in enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea. On 10 March 2021, Prairial reported suspicious illegal ship-to-ship transfers of oil, which was announced by the French Pacific Command (ALPACI). In June 2022, Prairial sailed to Hawaii for the naval exercise RIMPAC 2022. On 17 July 2022, a helicopter from Prairial assisted in evacuating two seriously injured sailors from the Peruvian corvette to a United States Coast Guard ship during RIMPAC 2022, after the corvette suffered a significant