The flow of interesting news continues, in one way or another related to the change in the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Recent reports relate to the long-suffering Russian-French contract for the purchase of two and possibly two more universal amphibious assault ships of the Mistral project. Over the past few years, this topic has been one of the most discussed and now there is a new cause for controversy.
A few days ago, at a meeting of the League for Assistance to Defense Enterprises, a member of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Russian government, I. Kharchenko, expressed a harsh and controversial idea. In his opinion, the purchase of new ships from France not only does not benefit the domestic fleet, but even harms the Russian shipbuilding industry, and the decision on it is simply ridiculous. In addition, Kharchenko said that the initiative of the former Minister of Defense A. Serdyukov, in accordance with which the contract was signed, caused damage to both shipbuilding and the state as a whole, and this is not the only action with similar consequences on the part of the ex-minister. Nevertheless, Kharchenko did not refuse the possibility of completing the already laid down landing ships. In favor of this, he cited the fact that the termination of construction and the termination of the contract will cost our country more than the continuation of work. So in the end, the member of the military-industrial complex summed up, the first two Mistrals for the Russian Navy need to be completed, and then their effectiveness should be determined.
Such statements of the responsible person look at least ambiguous. Moreover, in the light of recent events, they have an unpleasant connotation. There is an obsessive impression that serious accusations against the Mistrals are not based on real grounds in the form of technical or tactical problems, but a desire to support the current trend. After the change of the Minister of Defense, a real wave of various news and rumors began, one way or another connected with criticism or cancellation of decisions of the old leadership of the military department. This wave has already taken on the form of a real fashion, so every new message about the cancellation of any decision by Serdyukov or his subordinates lately looks more like an attempt to solve their "undercover" interests, and not pay attention to the country's defense capability. Of course, the previous leadership of the Ministry of Defense managed to do a lot, to put it mildly, bad things. However, it is necessary to deal with these problems, as they say, with feeling, with sense and consistency. Nowadays, sometimes one gets the impression of real chatting up problems, and not about solving them.
The story with the Mistrals turns out to be an example of this situation. The purchase of these ships was planned based on a number of certain features of the current state of our navy. Currently, the Russian Navy has about twenty landing ships of various types and about the same number of landing boats. In general, the quantitative composition of the amphibious fleet does not cause any complaints. However, there have been disputes over its quality for a long time. Thus, the most massive class of Russian amphibious assault ships are large amphibious assault ships (BDK). BDKs of various designs have been used by our fleet over the past decades. At the same time, due to the geopolitical situation, such ships were mainly operated only during exercises. The number of military operations with their participation can be counted on one hand. While Soviet and then Russian sailors and marines were just preparing for possible hostilities, foreign countries were actively fighting in various theaters of military operations. So, during the Vietnam War, the American military once again became convinced of the complexity of the amphibious assault landing using ships of various classes. In addition, at the same time, the concept of over-the-horizon landing was formed, when the landing ships did not enter the line of sight from the shore.
USS Tarawa (LHA-1)
In 1976, the US Navy accepted the first ship of a new class, created based on the experience of recent combat operations. The versatile landing ship USS Tarawa (LHA-1) had the ability to simultaneously transport personnel, light and heavy armored vehicles, landing boats and helicopters. In addition, the flight deck of the ship made it possible, if necessary, to transport and provide combat operation of aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing. Thus, one ship of the Tarawa project was able to provide over-the-horizon landing of a battalion of marines and armored vehicles for it. If necessary, it was possible to support troops from the air by means of transported equipment. It is not hard to guess how the combat potential of the new universal amphibious assault ships has increased in comparison with the old ships of several types at once. In the future, "in the image and likeness" of the Tarawa project in the USA and other countries, several similar UDCs were created. Currently, the most advanced representatives of this class are the American project America, South Korean Dokto, French Mistral and Spanish Juan Carlos I.
The LHA 6 America amphibious assault ship launched by Ingalls Shipbuilding. In the background is the San Antonio-class LPD 24 Arlington helicopter landing ship under construction at the shipyard. Pascagula, 05.06.2012 (c) Ingalls Shipbuilding
South Korean UDC Dokto
Spanish UDC Juan Carlos I
As you can see, abroad the class of universal amphibious ships has shown its capabilities and therefore almost completely replaced other classes of ships intended for landing troops on the coast. Moreover, almost all the development of foreign landing ships and boats is in accordance with the UDC concept. So, landing craft on an air cushion, for example, the American LCAC, are created precisely taking into account the use on the UDC. Boats like LCAC are made to deliver armored vehicles and personnel from ship to shore. Due to its design, this technique is not demanding on the depth of the coast and can land fighters on almost any beach. Thus, a whole "infrastructure" has developed around the UDC, which fully suits the foreign military and is unlikely to undergo major changes in the coming years.
LCAC
It is worth recognizing that attempts to make UDC were made in our country as well. In the eighties of the last century, the Nevsky Design Bureau was working on project 11780, which implied the creation of a universal amphibious assault ship, vaguely reminiscent of the American "Taravas". Unfortunately, the requirements of naval sailors were constantly changing, which led to reworking of the appearance of a promising ship. Finally, difficulties with the distribution of production capacity led to the freezing of the project, and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition of the Black Sea shipyard to independent Ukraine put an end to the entire project 11780. These UDC, if built, could transport and support the operation of 12 Ka-helicopters. 29 or similar, as well as four Project 1176 landing craft or two Project 1206 air cushion boats.
UDC model of project 11780
Thus, the USSR still tried to catch up and acquire modern-class ships, but still could not do it. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, on the sidelines of the Ministry of Defense, the question of creating the first domestic UDC was raised several times, but then the matter did not go further than talk. The totality of the capabilities of ships of this class attracted the attention of the military, but the country no longer had the opportunity to develop and build something similar. It was the absence of their own projects of universal amphibious ships that was one of the main arguments in favor of buying the French Mistrals. In this case, French ships were considered as a way to cover the need for such equipment for the coming years, while the development and construction of their own UDCs continued. Of course, if such a project is started.
It will take several years to develop and build its own universal amphibious assault ships, and it is unlikely that the head UDC of its own project will be launched before 2020. In addition, in the course of its creation, various changes in appearance and other things are possible that do not contribute to the speedy completion of the work. In this case, the purchase of French ships will help you learn in practice all the pros and cons of this class and take appropriate measures when creating your own UDC. As for the transfer of a number of technologies and documentation for the Mistrals, this will also be useful for the Russian shipbuilding industry. True, at the moment, due to the specific approach of the parties to the coverage of the agreement, it is not entirely clear which documents were transferred to the Russian shipbuilders.
UDC of the Mistral project
It is worth paying attention to the recent words of Deputy Prime Minister D. Rogozin. In his opinion, the UDCs of the Mistral project are inoperative at temperatures below seven degrees. This statement looks rather strange and raises a lot of questions. It is known that for use in the Russian Navy, the project of the French UDC has undergone a number of improvements, among which, obviously, were aimed at increasing the unpretentiousness of equipment for working in difficult conditions inherent in some regions adjacent to Russia. In addition, high-ranking naval commanders took part in the negotiations on the Russian-French contract at one time, and they would hardly have ignored such obvious and important things.
It is noteworthy that even after all the statements of Kharchenko and Rogozin, the previous picture that has developed around the Mistrals for Russia has practically not changed. As reported a little earlier, Russia will receive the first two UDCs in accordance with the current plan, and the other two ships will be ordered a little later. Thus, the current "round" of controversies around the topic of new landing ships is de facto useless. Its only positive feature is the ability to once again analyze the situation and make assumptions about further events. Meanwhile, work is underway to build the ships Vladivostok and Sevastopol, and it is unlikely that any disputes will be able to stop this process. The Russian Navy will still receive its first universal amphibious assault ships, even if they are of foreign production.
