Defense Ministry to Review Contract for Ivan Gren Landing Ship

12.11.2012 United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) and Russian defense ministry will revise the contract for completion of Project 11711 landing ship Ivan Gren laid down in 2004 by JSC Yantar Shipyard, said Alexander Konovalov, the yard's director general.

"We plan to revise the shipbuilding contract for landing ship Ivan Gren in the nearest time. Term of the current contract will be expired soon. Therefore, the ship will be completed under the new contract", reports Interfax citing Konovalov.

As for now, construction of the ship goes on behind the contract schedule, he added. According to Konovalov, there are two reasons for that. First, the shipyard was undergoing a crisis some time ago. The second reason is non-availability and tight supply of design documentation, as well as insufficient financing of the project.

"Money transfers for the project implementation became regular only two years ago", added Konovalov.

In his turn, USC vice president Sergei Forafontov confirmed the information about a new contract for the landing ship, having noted that "the new document deals with a higher cost of works. We all know how defense ministry concluded such contracts at the time".

As for him, the last remark refers to many shipbuilding contracts of Russian Navy.

Landing ship Ivan Gren was laid down in Dec 2004. Yantar shipyard was supposed to build a 5-ship series. However, it was decided later that Russian Navy would no longer purchase Project 11711 landing ships.

The then-president of USC Roman Trotsenko said in Apr 2012 that Yantar "won't build new ships under this project any more. It is decided that the new ship will combine attack and landing capabilities".

A Project 11711 landing ship was developed by JSC Nevskoye Design Bureau (St. Petersburg) and is a modification of Project 1171. It is the world's first ship using a 'non-contact landing' method. Troops and combat vehicles will reach unprepared coasts by means of pontoons.

The landing ship will be capable to accommodate about 40 tracked/wheeled combat vehicles including heavy ones (60 tons each). The ship's length will be about 120 meters; displacement will exceed 6,000 tons.

Yantar shipyard is specialized in building of various warships and civil vessels with launching weight up to 10,000 tons, as well as ship-repair works. Totally, the yard has built over 100 large and about 400 small ships, and repaired over 430 vessels.