The ship has two helicopter lifts, the main lift is located near the stern centerline, with an area of 225 square meters, enough to lift helicopters with rotors deployed; and the auxiliary lift is located at the rear of the ship's island, with an area of 120 square meters, both with a lifting capacity of 13 tons. The flight deck has a total of six helicopter landing sites and is equipped with optical landing aids. If the NH-90 class medium/large transport helicopters prevail, this class of ships can carry six to eight such medium-sized helicopters, and can be squeezed into a maximum of 16, if necessary, in addition to operating SA330 Puma helicopters, Tiger helicopter gunships, and other types of aircraft. The NWF class was also designed with the flexibility of expanding aircraft types in mind, reserving the ability to operate the US-made CH-53 Super Stallion heavy transport helicopter and the V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft, so its flight deck needs to have greater strength.
The North West Wind class does not have the ability to operate fixed-wing STOVLs like Spain's planned Juan Carlos I (Strategic Projection Ship) or the US Wasp-class amphibious assault ships, because France already has a conventional take-off and landing aircraft carrier and its new generation of main carrier-based fighters is the conventional take-off and landing Rafale Rafale. The vehicle deck of the NWF class can accommodate up to 60 vehicles, with entrances and exits for vehicles to move in and out of the ship, and this "Roll on/Roll off" (RORO) capability has become a must-have feature for many of the new-generation amphibious assault ships in the pipeline, and even the new-generation Italian carriers have this capability. Even Italy's next-generation aircraft carriers have this capability. The NWF class has three loading modes: normal mixed mode can carry 450 soldiers, 8 helicopters, and 60 vehicles; in helicopter carrier mode, 16 helicopters; and in vehicle transport mode, the hangar and garage of the class are fully dedicated to vehicles, with a capacity of up to 40 Leclerc Battle Tanks, 13 Leclercs with 46 other armored vehicles, or more than 230 light wheeled armored vehicles. 230 light armored wheeled vehicles. With a crew of 160 (20 officers, 80 non-commissioned officers and 60 enlisted personnel), the NWF can carry 450 troops on a standard six-month sea mission, up to 900 troops in high-density mode for short-range transport, and 150 assault troops in helicopter assault missions.
In order to support amphibious operations or humanitarian rescue missions, the NWF class is equipped with comprehensive medical equipment, in line with NATO Role 3; the ship's hospital has a total of 20 wards, comprising 69 beds and 7 intensive care beds, in addition to two operating theaters; if the mission needs to increase the capacity of the casualty intake, it can be added to the hangar beds, so the total number of beds on board to 120. The total number of beds on board is 120. In addition, the design of the North West Wind class also pays much attention to the livability of the ship's crew, the ship's modular cabins according to the total class **** there are single, double, four and six different configurations, the design of the ship's living space (such as personnel cabins, dining rooms, kitchens, etc.) has also been carefully arranged and planned; the ship has 15 officers with a single room, the non-commanding officers use a double room, the enlisted men use a four-person room or a six-person room. The ship's stores are large enough to cope with 45 days of continuous operations at sea. The NWF class was the first French Navy ship to adopt the Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP, also known as IEP or IPS) system, with three W?rtsil? 16 V32 main diesel generator sets (6.2 MW, 8300 hp each) and a W?rtsil? Vasaa 18V200 auxiliary diesel generator set (power 3MW, 4030 hp); while the propulsion is used two Rolls Royce Group provided MERMAID rotatable pods of electric propulsion (each power 7.5MW, ***15MW, about 20,400 hp), instead of the traditional large shaft and rudder, in the French Navy also set a precedent. MERMAID pod propulsion using electric motors and supporting power conversion equipment from the French Alstom Group Power Conversion Division (Alstom Power Conversion, APC, in 2005 became an independent company Converteam, in September 2011 by the U.S. GE Group to complete the acquisition).
The MERMAID pods were manufactured at Rolls Royce's plant in Sweden, with final assembly and testing done by APC in France. This power configuration not only makes the ship more athletic, but also eliminates the traditional large shaft, reduction gears, the ship can be more considerable space, noise and maintenance costs have also been significantly reduced; the main engine is no longer installed in the location of the drive machinery and large shaft, so the Northwest Winds will be part of the power generating turbine installed in the water above the water line, with a vibration-damping pedestal, so that its radiation into the water noise and vibration is significantly reduced. The ship's diesel generator sets are reliable, with an average overhaul interval of 12,000 operating hours and a general overhaul of 36 hours, and can be carried out while underway, making them ideally suited to long overseas deployments. The NWF class has a maximum speed of 18.8 knots and a range of 5,800 nautical miles at 18 knots and 10,700 nautical miles at 15 knots. The NWF is armed with two Brenda Mauser 30mm 70x automated guns, two sets of manually operated Matra twin Simbad NWF short-range anti-aircraft missile launchers, and four 12.7mm machine guns, although in practice only 12.7mm machine guns are armed. In light of the 2006 incident in which the Israeli Eilat-class frigate INS Hanit was wounded by a shore-based anti-ship missile off the coast of Lebanon, France believes it is necessary to strengthen the self-defense armament of the Northwesterly class to avoid being attacked by enemy anti-ship missiles, and also to reduce its dependence on escort vessels (in view of the budgetary shortfalls and lagging behind in the shipbuilding schedule, the number of French naval surface ships will show a trend of insufficiency in the future). The trend is to reduce the number of surface ships in the French Navy in the future, given budget shortfalls and the lack of progress in shipbuilding.)