DCNS Launches in Saint-Nazaire Shipbuilding Program of Two BPCs for Russia
(Source: DCNS; Issued February 1, 2012)
DCNS launched today at the STX shipyards in Saint-Nazaire the industrial production of the first of two BPCs ordered by the Russian Federation. Russian and French dignitaries and employees of both groups attended the official launch ceremony.
The construction of the first BPC for Russia started this morning in the presence of Mr Andrei Petrovich Vernigora - Acting Director of Department of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, responsible for monitoring the execution of the military orders of the State, by Captain Valeri Pletnev, Naval Attaché, Embassy of the Russian Federation in France, and Ivan Goncharenko, First Deputy Director General of Rosoboronexport.
On this occasion, initial sheet metal cutting was carried out.
This study follows the detailed design of the ships, which began on 1 November 2011, to take into account specific Russian requirements. A Russian program office was also inaugurated, which will monitor the work in the STX shipyard.
"DCNS and its partners are fully mobilized to carry out this program," said Pierre Legros, director of the Division of Naval Systems Surface DCNS. "This is the culmination of the common will of our two countries to develop a major industrial partnership."
The contract includes the supply to Russia of two Mistral-class BPCs with associated services and benefits (initial logistics, training, technology transfer). The DCNS Group is prime contractor for the completion of both BPCs and will integrate the operations management system of the ship and system communications. STX France is involved in the contract as a subcontractor to DCNS, responsible for the construction of the ship platforms.
Delivery of the first ship is scheduled for 2014, three years after the entry into force of the contract. The second BPC will be delivered in 2015.
Resulting from the close cooperation between DCNS and STX, the BPC is a ship that meets the needs of many navies due to its versatility. It can carry out a broad range of civil and military missions.
With a length of 199 meters, a displacement of 22,000 tons and a top speed exceeding 18 knots, the BPC is characterized by its large carrying capacity in terms of troops, equipment, heavy helicopters and landing craft, that it is capable of projecting throughout the world. It has electric propulsion pods, and its high level of automation reduces the crew to 170 people. It also has a hospital ward, and can carry out large-scale humanitarian missions. Its communication system makes it a particularly powerful command ship of a large naval task force.
The first two BPCs, Mistral and Tonnerre, made by DCNS and STX France were delivered to the French navy in 2006 and 2007. The third ship, Dixmude, ordered by DGA in 2009, was delivered on January 3, 2012 to the Navy by DCNS and STX France, three months ahead of schedule.
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