Ordered on 25 November 1988 at the yard Chantiers de l’Atlantique at St. Naizaire, France, laid down on 26 March 1990, launched on 6 October of the same year and commissioned on 4 November 1992.With a displacement of 17,760 (standard)-21,040 (full load) are her dimensions 225,3 x 24,84 x 7,7 metres while she needed a passing height by bridges of 49 metres. The two Pielstick diesels supplied 9,000 hp allowing a speed of 16 knots and a range of 15,000 nautical miles with a speed of 15 knots. The armament consists of 2-12,7mm machineguns and she can carry with her 2 Super Hornet or 4 Allouettes. The crew consists of a mix of 120 men of the navy and 95-184 scientists (of which almost 20% of DGA). This measure and test ship is specialized in measurements, processing data and conducting naval and air surveillance and also used for civil missions like space observation and trajectography. She for instance participated processing data for the French space agency CNES during the Ariana 5 space rocket program.
