F21 (torpedo)

F21 is a heavy-weight torpedo developed in France by DCNS for the French Navy. It has also been selected for the Brazilian Navy.

Concept
The F21 was to be a development version of the Italian Black Shark torpedo. In 2008 France signed a development contract for 93 heavy torpedoes for its nuclear submarines, to be delivered from 2015. The original plan called for a derivative of the Black Shark to be built by a joint venture between DCNS, Thales and WASS, but they fell out and DCNS will now be developing the F21 Artemis with Thales and Atlas Elektronik. The F21 shares similarities with the Black Shark, including an electric motor driven by an aluminium silver-oxide (AgO-Al) battery. It will have a warhead of PBX B2211, range of 50 km and speed of 50 kn. the project has a €485m budget with a unit cost of €2.3m (FY12), or €5.2m including development costs.

Qualification
The F21 was first tested on DCNS's Pégase catamaran in February 2013 and a submarine launch is planned for 2014, with production deliveries scheduled to start in late 2015. Qualification testing began in 2016, and were completed in June 2017 off the coast of Var.