A Gowind-class offshore patrol vessel (OPV) formerly operated by the French Navy was commissioned into Argentine service earlier this month.
Ex-FS L'Adroit, which had served under the French flag from 2011 to 2018, has been renamed ARA Bouchard. The vessel honours Hipólito Bouchard, a French-born Argentine Navy officer who had fought in numerous campaigns against Spanish colonial forces in the Philippines, Central America, and the Hawaiian Islands in the early 1800s.
Ex-L'Adroit/Bouchard is the first vessel to be acquired under the Argentine Navy's newest OPV programme, which began in February of this year.
Under the same programme, French defence firm Naval Group will supply Argentina with three newbuild Gowind-class OPVs over a two-year period beginning in the first quarter of 2020.