DCNS launched at the STX shipyards in Saint-Nazaire the industrial production of the first of two BPCs ordered by the Russian Federation. The construction of the first BPC for Russia started on February 1 in the presence of 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.

This study follows the detailed design of the ships, which began on November 1, 2011, to take into account specific Russian requirements. A Russian programme office was also inaugurated, which will monitor the work in the STX shipyard.

“DCNS and its partners are fully mobilised to carry out this programme,” 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.

With a length of 199 metres, a displacement of 22,000 tonnes and a top speed exceeding 18 knots, the BPC is characterised 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.