Sea Power 2007: Mistral squares up for LHD contest

1 April 2007

By Julian Kerr

The French Mistral-class LHD contender for the RAN's LHD contract is already in service; its build and operating costs are a known quantity and Thales Australia believes it has the infrastructure and workforce to be able to assemble them locally.

The competition between the two contestants for Australia's new amphibious ships program (JP2048) poses the very real question of whether bigger is necessarily better.

In one corner, weighing in at 21,500 tonnes, is the Mistral-class LHD (Landing ship Helicopter Dock) designed by the French naval constructor DCN and being offered by Thales Australia teamed with DCN/Armaris (also working with local companies such as Forgacs).

In the other corner, tipping the scales at 27,800 tons, is the BPE (Strategic Projection Ship) designed by the Spanish ship builder Navantia and on offer from Tenix supported as a technology partner by Navantia.

For Ali Baghaei, Vice-President Naval of Thales Australia and a one time director of the UK's $30 billion future aircraft carrier project, the question of comparative sizes is redundant.

"What's at issue is whether everything required by the customer in terms of capability, performance, budget, schedule and risk can be accommodated within the parameters of a particular proposal. If the answer is yes, then that's what I call value for money."

Baghaei points out that while the Mistral is smaller than its competitor, it is in fact a big ship - with a greater displacement than the Royal Navy's Invincible class aircraft carriers.

Furthermore, the fact that the Mistral was designed to commercial build standards means that cost savings are possible over normal military specifications.

Equally important in the longer term is the lower manning required to operate the vessel - typically in the region of 140-160 personnel.

This provides significant savings throughout the ship's service life and addresses the recruitment difficulties being experienced by all three Australian services.

Overall length of the Mistral is 199 metres and beam 32 metres. In French service, the vessel has a range of 11,000 nautical miles at 15 knots and 6,000 nm at 18 knots. Top speed is approximately 20 knots.

France requires the ship to embark 450 troops for up to six months in a pre-positioning role, while the Australian requirement is to carry a larger number of troops for a shorter period of time.

This has led to various changes in internal configuration, none of them significant because the accommodation structure is prefabricated.

In addition to embarked forces the Mistral can carry up to 1,000 tonnes of armoured vehicles on 1,000 metres of laneage.

A typical cargo could be 60 light armoured vehicles such as ASLAVs, and 11 Abrams M1A1 main battle tank.

Early concerns that hull plugs would be necessary to extend the hull to meet Australian needs have proved unfounded, minimising design and construction risk.

The four CTM (Chaland de Transport de Material) landing craft currently deployed on the Mistral class can each carry up to 90 tonnes, sufficient to transport an Abrams M1A1 and more than 20 tonnes of other cargo.

However, Thales will not comment at this time on whether the CTM has been proposed to equip the ship under JP2048 Phase 3.

The Mistral can operate six medium sized helicopters such as MRH90s, Seahawks and Tigers simultaneously from the six landing spots on the continuous flight deck, and hanger and maintenance space is available for up to 16 helicopters.

It can also temporarily accommodate larger helicopters such as the CH-47 Chinook.

Unlike the BPE, the Mistral class does not have an aircraft ski jump and its flight deck will not handle the weight or the jet downthrust of a STOVL aircraft such as the US Marine Corp's JSF F-35B.

However, Baghaei is adamant that there is no Commonwealth requirement for such a capability.

"They have not asked for that and even when we raised it they didn't want to discuss it," he said. "They made it very clear that this is not an aircraft carrier, and they have not deviated from that position".

A major attribute of the Mistral class is the fact that two ships, the Mistral and Tonnerre, are already in service with the French Navy, providing Thales and the Royal Australian Navy with invaluable data on construction risk and cost, operational performance, and logistical requirements.

The Mistral, deployed to Lebanon during the 2006 crisis, calculated it could accommodate 4,000 refugees on an eight-hour voyage to Cyprus. In the event it was only called on to carry 1,500, which it did without difficulty.

Development of the class has not been without its challenges. The first-of-class Mistral was delivered to the French Navy eight months late because of problems with the combat system, and minor difficulties have been experienced since, including flooring coming unstuck in living areas.

However, Baghaei stresses the benefits of a proven design.

"I know exactly what it will take to accommodate these ships in my infrastructure, I know what it will take to support them, I know what it will take to run them and to have them operationally ready," he comments.

While details of the construction proposals made to government remain confidential, one option focuses strongly on Australia's east coast for reasons of infrastructure and availability.

Baghaei points out that the only two drydocks in Australia capable of handling the assembly of a 20,000-tonne plus ship are Thales' Captain Cook graving dock at Garden Island, Sydney, and Forgacs' dock at Cairncross near Brisbane. Neither requires significant investment to undertake such a project.

Emphasising the efficiencies of modular construction, Baghaei says that if the Captain Cook dock - currently used for both military and civil ship maintenance and repairs - was to be used in LHD construction, it would only be needed for a few months per ship.

"That's very important, and that's how we evolved the strategy," he adds.

This points towards the same technique being employed in Australia as in France, where the aft section was built at Brest and the forward section was towed there for marrying together after being constructed at Saint Nazaire.

Whether or not Australian industry has the resources to handle both the air warfare destroyer (AWD) and LHD programs is not regarded as a problem by Baghaei. In his view the programs overlap but are not simultaneous, which would allow Mistral construction to slot neatly into the period preceding peak AWD demand.