Defense ministry to name winner of Navy's tender till Nov is over

16.11.2010 On Nov 15, 2010 defense ministry finished the Russian Navy's closed tender for multipurpose landing ships, writes Vedomosti. According to defense minister Anatoly Serdiukov, the winner will be named till the end of November, and the ships delivery contract will be signed in Dec 2010. Names of participating companies have not been disclosed so far.

Apart from Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), French, Spanish, S Korean, and German companies will attend the tender, said the minister. Obviously, they are DCNS with Mistral class helicopter carrier, Navantia with Juan Carlos I class landing ship, and Daewoo Marine Shipbuilding & Engineering with Dokdo. Speaking of Germany, TKMS shipyard seems to take part in the tender with Project MDH200 assault landing ship.

Previously, some Russian officials suggested that Dutch Schelde Shipbuilding would also participate in the tender with Rotterdam class landing ship. The possible attending of Admiralteyskie Verfi, Yantar, Severnaya Verf, and Baltiysky Zavod shipyards were not ruled out either. We recall that Admiralteyskie Verfi and Baltiysky Zavod are considered as the most probable executors of the coming order.

Defense ministry repeatedly stated that purchase of French Mistral was a higher-priority option and appropriate decision had been already made at governmental level. Official talks with France started on March 2, 2010 but were suspended on Oct 26 for the tender period. Potential contract cost is evaluated as EUR 1.5 bln and includes procurement of two ready-to-use ships and two building licenses.