Name Monge Laid down 26 March 1990 Status Active Length 230 m Launched 6 October 1990 Displacement 21 million kg Builder Chantiers de l'Atlantique | Namesake Gaspard Monge In service 4 November 1992 Type Tracking ship Construction started 26 March 1990 Weight 21,000 tons Beam 30 m | |
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Monge (A601), named after the 18th century mathematician Gaspard Monge, is a Missile Range Instrumentation Ship of the French Navy dedicated to tracking and measuring rocket trajectories. She was built for the trials of the Submarine-launched ballistic missiles of the Navy, and is also used to monitor the launch of Ariane rockets. Monge is one of the few ships in the world to have this capacity.
Technology
The systems in Monge allow the vessel to track missiles and satellites. There are two navigational radars and a DRBV 15C air surveillance radar installed. The intelligence systems are a Stratus Gascogne, two Armor-radarsystemy, two Savoie and Antares missile-tracking radars, a laser-radar, and an optical tracking unit, furthermore 14 antennas for telemetry.
The ship is painted white because the normal darker grey of warships would heat up the ship more, which could cause malfunctions of the electronic systems inside.
