France Finishes Deal To Build 3rd Command Ship

France Finishes Deal To Build 3rd Command Ship

(NSI News Source Info) PARIS - April 7, 2009: The government soon will order a third large command-and-projection ship as negotiations with industry have now been completed, French Defense Minister Hervé Morin said April 7. Morin told a defense conference here he had reached agreement with industry "yesterday evening" for the third batiment de projection et commandement, and that an order would be signed in the next few days, two defense executives present at the conference said. The third ship, classed as Landing Helicopter Dock, is part of a 2.3 billion euro ($3.1 billion) defense stimulus plan announced in December.

The Mistral LHD is a multimission force projection and commandement vessel. An instrument of crisis management in times of conflict, it offers in times of peace a platform to support civilian populations in the event of a humanitarian crisis. Transformed into a veritable floating hospital, it can then provide medical care equivalent to a 40,000 people city. The military at the service of civiliansIn the 21st century, naval defense is playing new roles, with operations that are both more complex and more geographically remote. Humanitarian and/or inter-allied missions call for greater maximum payloads, the ability to reconfigure vessels when they are already underway depending on changes in the situation in the field and, consequently, a vastly increased adaptability.Thanks to its ability to adapt to different payloads, the Mistral LHD is capable of rising to these new challenges. Its ultra-modern hospital, equipped with two operating theaters, boasts the highest standards currently in force within NATO. The Mistral is also an efficient commandement and control center. With its powerful communications system, its fully redundant equipment and excellent maneuvering capabilities, it plays a pivotal role in the deployment of peacekeepers, in deterrence or the projection. Features Two adjustable pods equip the propulsion system of the Mistral LHD, providing it with outstanding maneuvering capability. The first “all electric” ship in the French Navy, it distinguished itself in the Lebanon in 2006 by allowing the evacuation of several thousand civilians in the space of just a few days during the so-called Baliste operation, while providing logistics support to the NATO force committed to a peacekeeping mission. Negotiations between naval systems company DCNS and commercial shipyard STX France over how the work should be shared out have been tough, a third official familiar with the talks said. DCNS is unlikely to make much money on the third ship as the main aim of the reflation package is to maintain jobs, but the defense budget is tight so margins will be squeezed. The naval company, however, is under pressure to lift profitability. The chief executive of the Délégation Générale pour l'Armement (DGA) procurement office, Laurent Collet-Billion, recently said most of the labor will be employed on building the ship's hull at STX France's St. Nazaire yard on the Brittany coast, eastern France. DCNS will handle system integration and militarization of the platform. The naval company used its Brest site to integrate the weapon systems on the first two ships of this type. The government is a majority shareholder in DCNS and holds a third of STX France's capital. A DCNS spokesman said, "We are waiting for further communication from the ministry before we communicate." STX France declined to comment. According to a DGA 2006 press release, the program cost for the first two ships of this class, the Mistral and Tonnerre, was 570 million euros, including development and production. The DGA says the two ships cost about 30 percent less than their predecessors, Sirocco and Ouragon, because of use of commercial shipbuilding. The government obliged DCNS to share the Mistral and Tonnerre work with STX France to keep the commercial yard afloat. On top of the 570 million euro figure was a further amount for a five-year service contract and a guarantee on readiness from DCNS, a government official said. DCNS was the prime contractor for the Mistral and Tonnerre and shared half the work with the then-Chantiers de l'Atlantique, owned by the Alstom engineering group. Chantiers de l'Atlantique was renamed STX France after being bought by the STX South Korean group. The French government bought 33.34 percent of STX France in November 2008. Under the 2009-14 military budget law, two more command-and-projection ships were due to be built, but the collapse of work led the government to advance the third vessel under the defense reflation package.