The De grasse submarine has been delivered to the French Navy

Another milestone has been reached for the Barracuda program: on June 24, 2026, the Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) accepted delivery of the De Grasse, the fourth of six SSN submarines in the series. It was transferred to the French Navy.
The delivery to the Navy marks the end of testing for the propulsion system and the nuclear reactor. Tests began on December 12, 2025, and the submarine made its first sea trial —the start of the test campaign —on February 24, 2026.

TechnicAtome is responsible for the design and construction of the nuclear propulsion system, which provides the submarine with increased availability, energy capacity, and nuclear safety compared to previous generations.

The first in the series, the Suffren, entered active service in June 2022, the Duguay-Trouin in April 2024, and the Tourville in June 2025. TechnicAtome is maintaining a steady pace and delivers a new Barracuda power plant approximately every 18 months. The principles of modular construction allow to work simultaneously on multiple reactor plants; the Cherbourg site currently houses the reactor —at various stages of completion—for the last two submarines in the series.