India to acquire the 20,000 tons amphibious assault ships

(Infodefensa.com) Madrid - The Indian Navy has opened the competition to acquire four amphibious assault ships of 20,000 tons each. The first step of this program valued at 2,600 million dollars (about 1,900 million), has been sending the relevant documentation to the local shipyards Larsen & Toubro (L & T), Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering , and ABG Shipyard , so they can compete in it.

This process is followed with great interest in Spain , since the domestic construction Navantia is associated with one of these local firms (L & T, specifically) to bid based on the ship design Juan Carlos I of the Spanish Armada . Pipavav Defence , for meanwhile, has partnered with French DCNS , construction of ships Mistral , and ABG Shipyard has an agreement with the U.S. Alion .

Thus, the Spanish design of this type of vessel will return to see the faces with the French design in an international competition. Currently, in addition to the units employed by their respective navies, the French model Mistral has been chosen by Russia to acquire at least two units, while Spain has manufactured two for Australia derived from his ship Juan carlos I.

In the case of India, only local companies are allowed to attend the competition, hence its association with Western companies, and none of them have experience in this type of vessel.

The company that makes the offer with the lowest price to build two ships and assign design to state-owned Hindustan Shipyard Ltd. (HSL) to build the other two.

A length of 215 meters maximum

Each vessel must not be more than 215 meters in length (the Juan Carlos I has the original 231 and Mistral , 199) nor more than 8 meters deep. They must have electric propulsion motors and a battery life of 45 days with a maximum sustained speed of not less than 20 knots.

Craft should be prepared to operate helicopters up to 35 tons, and its interior will have to be able to transport, each at least six tanks, twenty combat infantry vehicles and forty trucks. They will also operate both as hovercraft landing craft.

Also be trained to accommodate up to 1,430 people, distributed as follows: 60 officers, 470 sailors and 900 soldiers.

To his defense will include missile defense systems and torpedoes, decoys and both light machine guns and heavy.

Photos: Gines Soriano / Infodefensa.com, Navantia and DCNS