French naval shipbuilder DCNS has floated a multi-mission frigate, or FREMM, it is building for the French Navy.

The Auvergne is the sixth frigate in its FREMM program and the fourth for France. Two other FREMMS are in service with Egypt and Morocco.

"The floating of the FREMM Auvergne, after the delivery of the FREMM Tahya Misr to the Egyptian Navy and the delivery of the FREMM Provence in June, demonstrate DCNS's ability to successfully achieve a serial production," said Anne Bianchi, FREMM program director at DCNS. "DCNS is doing everything in its power to satisfy its clients by delivering these last six frigates before mid-2019."

The Auvergne was ordered by OCCAR, a European Union organization for multi-national defense projects, om behalf of France's defense procurement agency.

Italy is building its own variant of the FREMM.

"With three FREMMs currently under construction in DCNS' Lorient site, DCNS is accelerating the production speed in order to deliver six FREMMs to the French Navy before mid-2019," DCNS said. "Two additional frigates equipped with strengthened anti-aircraft capacities will be delivered before 2022."

FREMM frigates are about 466 feet long and displace more than 6,600 tons. They have a maximum speed of 27 knots and a range of 6,000 nautical miles while sailing at 15 knots.

Armaments include cruise missiles, Aster and Exocet missiles and MU 90 torpedoes.