Just one week following the launch of Ivan Gren, head of Project 11711 large landing ship, senior officials from the Russian Navy Command confirmed to Daily Izvestia the intention to order a second vessel before deciding the fate of the class.
"The fate of Project 11711 will be decided after the construction of a second vessel of the same class. That is, the second such ship, we plan to order, and then we'll decide whether to build more ships of this type," - said the representative of the Navy. He explained that "Ivan Gren" is intended for amphibious operations and thhe landing "right on the beach". To do this, Ivan Gren class can open its bow and unload troops and vehicles.
May 18, 2012 at JSC "Baltic Shipyard Yantar" in Kaliningrad, a new large landing ship for the Russian Navy was floated out following an official ceremony. Project 11711 large landing ship of the new generation was designed in the late eighties and nineties. Russian Ministry of Defense April 1, 2004 issued the contract to build Project 11711. The ship's completion is expected by 2013. Plans to build three more ships of the same class are under consideration.
Project 11711 Ivan Gren Large Amphibious Assault Ship
"Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad, which built Ivan Gren is ready to start construction of the new vessel immediatly. However the Russian Navy must first determine final specifications of the second ship, because the head of class specifications were changed three times," - said the source to Izvestia.
According to the source, "Ivan Gren" designed in 1998, was initially supposed to have powerful weapons, including air defense systems. In 2004, the ship started to be prepared to receive such systems. However, in 2006, after a change in the Navy leadership most of "Ivan Gren" weapons fit was canceled. As a result, the vessel is now a "militarized freighter with landing capabilities". "We had to cut the hull of the ship, get rid of the room where all the air defense systems were placed. Now the fleet is unlikely to want to keep this project in this way," - explained a representative of United Shipbuilding Company (USC)
According to him, if the Navy did not take a dicision quickly, the second ship of the class will not get into the 2013 state defense order, which must be signed in October 2012. In this case, the ship will be laid down in 2014 only.
In addition, according to a source, many weapons systems and controls, which were designed for"Ivan Gren" in 1998 are already out of production and now the designers will have to accomodate future vessel of the class with new systems.
"A lot of things are simply not available anymore - diesel engines, pumps, turbines, artillery systems. Some of the equipment is very out of date - such as electronics. Now, many components have completely different dimensions, specifications, price" - said the source.
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