On October 26, 2010, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced a tender for the supply of universal amphibious assault ships to our Navy. The competition should be held behind closed doors, and invitations to participate in it have already been sent to several companies. Despite the fact that neither the names of these firms, nor the projects presented by them, nor the terms of the tender itself are known, it can be said with some certainty that there will be no competition. The fact is that the Russian military department still gives preference to the French Mistral-class amphibious assault dock ship.
The Ministry of Defense did not publish specific requirements for new combat units of the Russian Navy. Earlier, only one condition was voiced - Russia must receive the technology for building ships in the event that a foreign company wins the competition.
IT'S SHORT TO WAIT
In the fall of this year, some of our military said that under the terms of a deal with a foreign company, the localization of production in Russia during the construction of the first ship should be at least 30%, the second - 60%, and subsequent ships - 100%. We are talking about the production of components for them, as well as about the work on the territory of the Russian Federation, which means: the last two ships will be completely manufactured in our country. However, the specific numbers of localization will obviously be coordinated with the winner.
In the meantime, the construction formula is simplified as follows: two ships must be built abroad, and two in Russia. It should be noted that initially there was talk about a ratio of one to three, but during negotiations with France on the purchase of the Mistral, the proportions changed. Of course, all this applies only to foreign-made ships.
If a Russian shipbuilding enterprise wins the tender, all orders will naturally be placed in full in the Russian Federation. However, our military experts believe that domestic companies in the competition intend only to compete for the right to receive contracts for the construction of foreign ships at their shipyards.
As expected, the envelopes with the bids of the tender participants will be opened in November, and the winner will be named in December 2010. It is also planned to conclude a contract for the supply of landing ships by the end of the year. A month ago, in mid-October, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General of the Army Nikolai Makarov, said: "Whoever offers the highest quality ship, shorter terms and less price, will be the winner." He added that companies from France, the Netherlands, Spain and Russia will take part in the tender.
PARTICIPANTS AND OFFERS
It is still unknown which enterprises were invited to participate in the Russian competition. Earlier our officials stated that the projects of the Dutch company Schelde Shipbuilding, the Spanish Navantia, the French DCNS and the Russian "Zvezda" are of interest for the tender. They put up for tender landing ships of the Rotterdam, Juan Carlos I, Mistral and Tokto classes, respectively. At the same time, presumably DCNS will enter the competition together with STX, and Zvezda - with the South Korean Daewoo Marine Shipbuilding & Engineering.
It is possible, however, that other Russian companies - Admiralty Shipyards, Yantar, Severnaya Verf and Baltic Shipyard - will try their luck in the tender, but it is difficult to say which ships they will offer. In Russia, there is currently no project of an amphibious assault helicopter carrier, similar in its characteristics to the Mistral, Tokto or any other ship that is likely to be put up for the competition. Let me remind you that in the 80s, the Nevsky Design Bureau was developing a universal amphibious assault ship of project 11780, which could still compete with foreigners, but this program was closed in favor of building aircraft carriers of project 1143.5 ("Admiral of the Soviet Union Fleet Kuznetsov", carrying service in the Northern Fleet).
It was planned that the displacement of the Project 11780 universal amphibious assault ship would be 25 thousand tons with a length of 196 meters, a width of 35 meters and a draft of eight meters. The ship was supposed to reach speeds of up to 30 knots and cover eight thousand miles without refueling. It was assumed that the UDC air group will include 12 Ka-29 transport and combat helicopters, and its dock chamber will house four Project 1176 landing boats with a capacity of 50 tons of cargo or two Project 1206 landing craft with a capacity of 37 tons. The amphibious assault ship's armament was to include a 130-millimeter twin automatic cannon, two batteries of Dagger anti-aircraft missile systems and four Kortik anti-aircraft missile and artillery systems.
For comparison: the displacement of the French Mistral-class helicopter carrier is 21.3 thousand tons with a length of 192 meters, a width of 32 meters and a draft of 6, 2 meters. The ship is capable of speeds up to 19 knots, and its cruising range reaches 11 thousand miles. The Mistral is capable of transporting from 450 to 900 paratroopers, up to 60 armored personnel carriers, or 13 tanks, or 70 armored vehicles. The aircraft carrier group of the ship can include up to 16 Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopters or up to 12 NHI NH90 transport helicopters. The UDC is armed with two Simbad air defense systems, two 30mm cannons and four 12.7mm machine guns. The construction cost is $ 637 million.
It should be noted that the Mistral is not entirely French. The helicopter carrier was designed by the South Korean company STX, which owns the STX France shipyard in France. The ship was created taking into account the requirements of the Navy of the Fifth Republic in conjunction with the French company DCNS. Earlier, the domestic United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), which opposed the direct purchase of a helicopter carrier from France, began negotiations with STX on the construction of an analogue of the Mistral, offering the Koreans in exchange for this contracts for the creation of ships for work on the Russian shelf.
In turn, the length of the Korean "Dokdo" is 200 meters, width - 32 meters, draft - 6, 5 meters, displacement - 19, 3 thousand tons. The ship can reach speeds of up to 22 knots, and its cruising range is 10 thousand miles. Dokdo is designed to carry 720 paratroopers, from seven to 16 amphibious vehicles plus six tanks or ten trucks. The aircraft carrier group of the ship includes up to 15 helicopters of various types, including the transport UH-60 Black Hawk and SH-60 Ocean Hawk. "Tokto" is armed with two Goalkeeper air defense systems and one RIM-116 air defense system. The construction cost is $ 650 million.
The displacement of the Dutch "Johann de Witt" (the second ship of the "Rotterdam" class, built according to the modified project) is 16.8 thousand tons, length - 176.35 meters, width - 25 meters, draft - 5.8 meters. The ship can reach speeds of up to 22 knots, and its cruising range reaches 6 thousand miles. The landing ship's air group includes six AgustaWestland Lynx or NHI NH-90 helicopters. "Johann de Witt" is capable of transporting 611 paratroopers, as well as 170 armored personnel carriers or 33 main battle tanks. The ship is armed with two Goalkeeper air defense systems and four 20mm automatic cannons. The construction cost is about $ 550 million.
Finally, the Spanish participant of the Russian tender - "Juan Carlos I". Its displacement is 27, 079 thousand tons, length - 230, 89 meters, width - 32 meters, draft - 6, 9 meters. The ship is capable of speeds up to 21 knots, the cruising range of this UDC is 9 thousand miles. It should be noted that "Juan Carlos I" is the most versatile ship on the tender - the UDC deck equipped with a springboard can receive vertical landing aircraft BAE Harrier, Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II, as well as Boeing CH-47 Chinook, Sikorsky S helicopters -61 Sea King and NHI NH-90. The ship is armed with two 20mm cannons and four 12.7mm machine guns. The construction cost is $ 496 million.
It will obviously not be easy to choose from the listed ships the most suitable for the Russian Navy. (Materials about modern UDC are published in No. 37 of the "Military-Industrial Courier" for 2010.)
WILL THE COMPETITION BE HELD?
Despite the fact that a large number of UDCs are likely to take part in the Russian tender, the Russian Ministry of Defense still prefers the French Mistral. This is not surprising. After all, the military department of our country has shown interest in acquiring this helicopter carrier since 2009, and official negotiations on this issue began on March 2, 2010 by decision of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Until recently, the direct purchase of a multipurpose landing ship from France without holding any tenders was the only option considered, which, however, caused persistent indignation of Russian shipbuilders.
The cost of the four Mistral-class ships was estimated at 1.5 billion euros (2.07 billion dollars). USC believed that this money should be directed to support the Russian shipbuilding industry by placing an order directly with one of the domestic enterprises. According to the corporation, our shipbuilders would have coped with the order cheaper and faster than foreign companies, while building a ship designed exclusively for the Russian Navy. Later, USC President Roman Trotsenko said that the Mistral could be built at the Russian shipyards in late 2016 - early 2017. At the same time, the duration of the construction of a French helicopter carrier in the Russian Federation will not exceed 30 months.
According to Konstantin Makienko, Deputy Director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, “the announcement of the competition was the result of lobbying by the USC”. The Russian Ministry of Defense first spoke about the possibility of a tender in August 2010.
Despite the direct concession to the USC and its leadership, the military department is still not going to retreat from its priority - the chances that Mistral will be bought as a result of the tender are great. There are several reasons for this, one of which is the decision of the Russian government taken back in early 2010. In addition, in the spring of this year, some media wrote that the deal with France represents a kind of attempt to "thank" the Fifth Republic for supporting Russia during the military conflict in South Ossetia in August 2008.
However, in addition to this hypothesis, there are more objective factors by which Mistral can win the tender. The fact is that the Dutch, Korean and Spanish landing ships were built using a number of American-made systems and technologies. Thus, there is a high probability that the United States will simply block the deal by banning the re-export of its products to a country that is not a strategic ally and a member of the North Atlantic Alliance. If permission is issued, then there is a great chance that Washington will try to dictate restrictions on the use of new helicopter carriers by Russia.
Another attractive side of the Mistral purchase was opened on October 26, 2010 by the director of the French company DCNS Pierre Legros, who said that contrary to the prevailing belief, France would not be limited in technology transfer to Russia. In fact, this means that the ship can be delivered with weapons and communication systems, and not in the form of a "barge", as was previously assumed. The only exception here will be only communication codes, which will not be "sewn" into the equipment of a ship intended for export to our country.
In addition, the Mistral will be built taking into account additional requirements of the Russian side. In particular, it is planned to increase the thickness of the take-off deck, increase the anti-ice safety of the hull, and also raise the hangar roof by several centimeters so that it can accommodate larger helicopters - Ka-27, Ka-29 and Ka-52. By the way, the latter had already landed on the Mistral's deck when it arrived in St. Petersburg in November 2009. It is expected that domestic air defense systems will be installed on the French landing ship.
According to the plans of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the first Mistral-class ships will be received by the Pacific Fleet. However, in order for these UDCs to be as effective as possible, it will be necessary to provide them with a full-fledged escort from ships of the "frigate" or "corvette" class. It is still difficult to say what the composition of this "suite" will be.
The very attitude of the Russian military department towards it speaks in favor of the formality of the upcoming competition. So, on October 26, 2010, First Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said: "We have announced a tender for the purchase of two ships and the transfer of technology for the next batch." At the same time, he did not hide the fact that Russia intends to buy four Mistral-class ships from France, provided that two UDCs will be built in the Fifth Republic, and two in our country. Against the background of such a statement, the words of the First Deputy General Director of Rosoboronexport Ivan Goncharenko about the suspension of negotiations on the Mistral for the duration of the tender sounded unconvincing.
ADDITIONAL FACTOR
Everything finally fell into place when on November 1 it was reported that USC and DCNS had signed an agreement to create a consortium that would build ships of different types. And although the Mistral was not mentioned, it is obvious that the consortium will also undertake the manufacture of such ships. According to the president of USC Roman Trotsenko, the agreement with DCNS involves the exchange of technologies and is concluded "for a long period."
By the way, the Ministry of Defense has previously stated that the tender is a tender, and the Mistral is the most interesting for Russia. Although how the Russian Navy intends to use the new ships, it is not yet entirely clear. So, in February 2010, the military department announced that the Mistral would be used as a command ship. At the same time, the landing function of the helicopter carrier was considered as secondary, inherent in universal ships. Among other tasks were named the fight against submarines, rescuing people in emergency situations, as well as transporting people and goods.
In March of this year, another version of the use of the Mistral was sounded, also announced by the Ministry of Defense. Landing helicopter carriers can be used to ensure the security of the Kuril Islands and the Kaliningrad exclave. In urgent cases, the ships will carry out a large-scale transfer of troops to these regions. “We have an issue in the Far East that has not been resolved with the islands, from the point of view of Japan, from our point of view - everything has been decided … We have the Kaliningrad special region, with which there is no direct connection,” announced Vladimir Popovkin.
According to some Russian military experts, the purchase of the French Mistral is a settled issue. Another task is much more intriguing: which domestic enterprise will receive an order for the licensed construction of helicopter carriers? In late summer 2010, a Russian-French delegation visited the Baltic Yantar shipyard to assess the possibilities of building landing ships at its shipyards. The Russian part of the delegation was headed by Igor Sechin, the French part - by the chief of the special staff of the President of the Fifth Republic, General Bellois Puga. Meanwhile, DCNS management believes that the Admiralty Shipyards are best suited for the construction of the Mistrals. Another likely contractor is the Baltic plant. Which of these enterprises will eventually receive a contract for the manufacture of two landing ships, it will become clear already this year.
