just fore and aft of the machinery room. The Floréal-class frigates have a maximum speed of and a range of at . The class was initially only to be armed with the weaponry that would be required for the patrol mission, but this was later increased. The frigates were armed with two Exocet MM38 surface-to-surface missiles in launchers situated centrally atop the midships superstructure. Each missile had a range of , carried a warhead and could reach speeds up to Mach 0.9. However, at the end of the missile's life cycle in 2014, the launchers were removed as the French Navy did not intend to replace the capability aboard the ships. The ships mount one 100 mm CADAM turret with the Najir fire control system located forwards. The gun can fire 78 rounds per minute, each round weighing up to a range of . The frigates are also equipped with two 20 mm modèle F2 guns situated in atop the aft superstructure which can fire 720 rounds per minute up to . The frigates are equipped with DRBV-21C (Mars) air sentry, Racal Decca RM1290 navigation and Racal Decca RM1290 landing radars along with ARBG-1A Saïgon communications intercept, CSF ARBR 16A radar intercept electronic surveillance systems and two Dagaie decoy systems. Ships of the Floréal class mount a helicopter landing pad located on the stern and a hangar. The frigates are capable of operating the embarked Eurocopter AS565 Panther up to sea state 5, and are capable of operating helicopters up to the size of the Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma. However, as late as 2021, Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopters were also being embarked, notably in the Pacific region. In 2022, the Eurocopter Dauphin N3 was earmarked to replace the Aérospatiale Alouette III aboard some ships when the Alouette IIIs were withdrawn from service. The vessels have a complement of 90 including the aircrew and officers and 24 marines with capacity for a further 13 personnel. The ships are equipped with improved medical facilities including a consultation room and hospital beds for use during humanitarian missions. Construction The first two ships were ordered on 20 January 1989, the second pair on 9 January 1990 and the final two in January 1991. The ships are named after months of the Republican Calendar. The ships were built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire, France. They were built using civilian construction methods as a cost