In order to promote one of its flagship amphibious assault vessels, Navantia, Spanish state-owned shipbuilding company, brought its warship ‘L 61 Juan Carlos I’ at the Indian port city of Mumbai. This special visit by the Spanish warship is considered as a decisive step by the company to entice Indian Navy to purchase around four similar ships to upgrade its current fleet. To have a closer look at the various topographies and advance machineries installed in this giant vessel, Vayu visited the warship to evaluate whether its capabilities, strengths and technologies are cutting edge enough to cater the current demands of the Indian Navy!
So, in the future hope of securing a contract from the Indian Navy, Spanish shipyard Navantia decided to sail its mammoth 26,000 tonne amphibious assault vessel all the way from Spain to India for a first-hand perusal by its buyer. Before arriving at Mumbai, the Spanish vessel was docked in Kuwait where it offloaded five helicopters: three Chinooks and two Cougars that Spain has deployed to support its current military mission in Iraq.
The Juan Carlos I, launched in 2008 and commissioned in 2010, named after the King of Spain who abdicated for his son Felipe VI in 2014, arrived on 2 June 2018 in Mumbai and showcased its seafaring, technical and operational capacities; senior officials from the Indian Navy were at hand to inspect the warship and get first hand information regarding its capabilities.
The conceptualisation
The formation of the Juan Carlos I is based on four different aspects: the usefulness of the ski-jump ramp of British aircraft carriers, the versatility of US Navy amphibious assault ships, the logistic capabilities of RO-RO transport ships, and the potential for humanitarian assistance of hospital ships. Its main distinguishing feature lies in the combination of all these capabilities in one single platform.
Two of the main aspects the Spanish Navy intends for its naval force are versatility and interoperability and the LHD Juan Carlos I meets both demands. Experience at sea has confirmed such versatility to perform the planned roles in an effective manner; amphibious assault, aircraft-carrier, strategic projection and humanitarian aid.
The company also claims that the level of interoperability that has been achieved by the vessel, especially regarding flight operations, is quite satisfactory, having already shown its capability of operating with Spanish Army and Air Force helicopters and even with US Marine Corps tilt-rotor MV-22 ‘Osprey’ aircraft.
Another highlight has been the qualitative rise in the projection capability of the Spanish Navy. By integrating the L-61 in the amphibious assault force, the Spanish Navy is in a position to be able to effectively put ashore a 2,000-strong marine corps brigade in the course of an amphibious landing and along with that, it can also transport over 46 Leopard 2E tanks. It has a crew of 261 and an air wing of 172.
The Bid
The Indian Navy’s (IN) role in relief and rescue operations during the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami won it plaudits from the international community while underlining its strategic potency to Indian policy planners. For the IN however, that event brought to the fore the crucial need to augment amphibious capabilities above and beyond what is provided by its existing fleet of medium sized landing ship tanks (LSTs). In order to further strengthen its amphibious convoy, the Indian Defence Ministry has given an in-principle approval to a mega naval project worth more than $3.1 billion to provide critical support to troops in a war zone. The project will involve landing platform docks (LPD).
The Indian Navy has planned four 20,000-30,000 tonne LPD’s for induction in the next decade. India's private manufacturers Reliance Defence and Engineering Limited (RDEL) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) have cleared the financial and technical tests and have submitted commercial bids to the Indian defence ministry. L&T has a tie-up with Navantia of Spain and RDEL with Naval Group of France.
As per the 2013 tender, initially it was decided to allot the manufacturing contract of two LPDs to domestic private sector and the remaining two to state-owned company. However, recently after few amendments, it was made it clear to assign the entire LPD contract to private players upon acceptance of their revised bids.
Approximately 200-meters-long diesel electric propulsion LPD ships will have the capacity to remain in the sea for at least 45 days. The ship would be equipped with a point defence missile system, close-in weapon system, anti-torpedo decoy system, chaff system, heavy and light machine guns. It is expected that LPD ships would be able to carry six main battle tanks, 20 infantry combat vehicles and 40 heavy trucks. Each ship is expected to carry 1,430 personnel, 470 sailors and 900 troops. The ship would have capability of simultaneous operation by day/night of special operation helicopters and large helicopters up to 35 tonnes.
Commenting on the capability of the domestic shipyards that will build the LPDs, one of the Indian Navy officials stated, “RDEL has no past experience in building large warships, including LPDs. However, as far as L&T Limited is concerned, they have been building the commercial ships of equivalent tonnage, thus they have sufficient in-house capability to build ships of equivalent displacements.”
Why does the IN want LPDs?
The first edition of the Indian Maritime Military Strategy (IMMS) released in 2007 clearly recognises: “that the use of maritime power to influence operations ashore is a primary, and not a subsidiary, role of maritime force employment”. It further outlines that “this could be undertaken through commodity denial or by directly supporting the land campaign through the delivery of ordnance by naval platforms or amphibious and/or expeditionary capabilities.” Indeed it is precisely to augment ‘out-of-area’ or expeditionary capabilities that these LPDs are being sought by the IN.
“Indian Navy requires LPDs for not only protecting its island territories and the exclusive economic zone but also to thwart growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean littoral region,” an Indian Navy official stated. “The aggressive posturing of the Chinese Navy in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean Region has made it necessary to beef up strength in the Indian Ocean region.”
The Indian Navy currently operates one LPD, the former US-owned, Austin-class LPD Trenton, which was acquired by India in 1997 and renamed INS Jalashwa.
Navantia’s focus
Navantia Group has welcomed this opportunity to support its current options in the Indian Navy LPD Programme, as the chosen designer, in partnership with Larsen and Toubro as the main contractor. The LHD “Juan Carlos I” is Navantia’s reference ship for the LDP programme.
There has been a constant efforts from the Government of Spain and the Government of India to boost their defence ties and this has helped Navantia to a great extent and since the year 2000, the company has been actively involved in catering the needs of IN. Besides the LPD Programme, group is also involved in various other programmes such as P-75 Scorpene submarines, FSS for construction of five fleet support ship, MCMV programme for the construction of 12 minesweepers and nine counter vehicles, and collaboration with new solicitations coming from the IN.
Navantia's President Esteban García Vilasánchez, stated, “For us, India is a land of opportunities; it is a country where we hope to build four amphibious ships based on the design of Juan Carlos I.” The president, while addressing the media during their visit to the warship, further stated, “It is our privilege to be associated with L&T in this mega project. Basically, L&T are the builders and we are supporting them on the technology and design front. If we get the contract, then L&T in association with Navantia will build four similar vessels and these will be aligned with the ‘Make in India’ initiative.”
L&T officials opined, “In our earlier programmes, what we had manufactured were way smaller ships than ‘L 61 Juan Carlos’ so in order to build this colossal vessel, one needs to have a great partnership with people who have an ample amount of experience in this domain. This is the reason we have joined hands with Navantia Group as they have both experience and technology to build this mega vessel.”
Describing about the difference between the Spanish vessel and its Indian variant, officials informed, “The ship will be built in the Kattupali Shipyard, Chennai with higher amount of domestic indigenous content. There will be other changes as well such as since the Indian Navy doesn’t want to have fix wing aircraft on board, so we have to cut down on the ‘Ski-Jump’ which ultimately leads to shortening the length of the vessel. What IN is looking for is a helicopter carrier and this vessel is capable of carrying varieties of helicopters to perform multiple tasks such as amphibious operations, ASW operations, humanitarian and disaster management operations etc.”
Technology Transfer
The current Spanish version of Juan Carlos I is equipped with 201.9m-long and 32m-wide flight deck with a 12° ski-jump facility for VSTOL aircraft (AV-8B Plus or joint strike fighter). Apart from V-22 Osprey, AV-8B Plus, and JSF aircraft, six NH-90, six SH-3D and six AB 212 helicopters, four CH-47 Chinook and one SA spot can be operated from the vessel.
The hangar can accommodate 12 aircraft, while six aircraft can be parked on the flight deck. The ship has two elevators, with a capacity to carry bigger aircraft in the future. The vessel’s displacement for air operations is 24,660t and maximum sustained speed is 21kt.
The ship has a dock of 69.3m length and 16.8m width. Its flooding deck can carry four LCM-1E/LCM-8 + 4/6 SUPERCAT type RIBs, one LCAC and LVTs. Displacement of the LHD for amphibious operations is 27,079t, while the maximum sustained speed is 19.5kt.
However, as per the Navantia Group, there will be several alterations in the Indian variant with overall length of the Indian vessel will be 214.19 m, breadth 32.0 m, full load displacement 27,000 tonnes and maximum speed will be of 20 knots. This gigantic machine will run on four main engines of 8,000 kw, two auxiliary engines of 3,500 kw and four electrical engines. It will be armed with CIWS, chaff launcher, SAM missile system and 12.7 mm machine gun.
The present Juan Carlos I is capable of transporting 144 containers as well as evacuated civilians. It has two operation theatres, a dentist’s room, a sick bay, a consulting room, a first aid room, an ICU, an injury selection area, an X-ray room, a lab and a chemist’s room. An elevator connects the dock, flight deck and cargo decks to the hospital.
Communications systems
The vessel has satellite, data and voice communication systems in place. The crew and the defence staff on board will be able to receive commands and communication from data links. Information can be received and sent through sensors and equipment. The LHD runs on a combined diesel-electric and gas turbine (CODLAG) propulsion system. The electric engines are powered by one gas turbine and two diesel generators. It has an endurance of 9,000NM at 15kt. An electric propulsion system means a reduction in fuel consumption, gas emissions and noise and vibrations; lower maintenance costs; reduction of necessary space and high manoeuvrability.
Though it seems like Juan Carlos I is the best suited to fulfil the present requirements of the Indian Navy but still it has a long mile to cover once Navantia-L&T jointly receive the contract. Two groups will be jointly manufacturing four such vessels for the IN which are most likely to be deployed in the Indian Ocean Region.
