Buque de Proyección Estratégica
The Spanish Navy and Izar defined the technical and operative requirements of a ship that will be essentially multipurpose: its construction will be developed in an historical frame characterized by the decreasing budgetary availability and the gradual assumption of international responsibilities on the part of Spain, that are materialized in the unfolding of their Armed Forces in scenes in many distant occasions of the national territory.
The Buque de Proyección Estratégica - Ship of Strategic Projection (well-known also by abbreviations LL) is called to play an important role in the Fleet. A platform that not only supports the mobility of the Marines (probably it will replace the popular "cornudas", L-41 Hernán Corte's and L-42 Pizarro) , but that will act like possible platform for the carrier-based aviation, and like strategic transport of the Ground forces is required.
According to the picture of characteristics facilitated, the cargo capacity of personnel of the ship will be of around 900 infants of Navy, with its equipments and elements of support. The LL will count on multi-funcional areas of garage and hangar of light material (standardized vehicles, containers, helicopters, etc.) of 3,000 ms 2 of surface, with capacity for 6,000 load t.
In the immediately inferior level is a garage for heavy vehicles, of 3,000 ms2, that communicates to stern with the dock, that has capacity similar to the one of the LPD of the Galicia class, being able to lodge up to four LCM-1e boats or one LCAC.
In addition to that first and main mission, the LL could be used like complementary platform of the aircraft carrier Prince of Asturias in the air operations, or alternative, during the periods of immobilization programmed for the ship standard of the Navy. For it, the Ship of Strategic Projection will count on a flight deck of 185 ms of length with Sky jump to prow, 6 points for airplanes type Harrier /JSF or medium helicopters, or 4 points for heavy helicopters Chinook type.
Their main armament will be the Harrier airplanes and in addition it will have capacity to embark 1,200 soldiers and 12 helicopters, with an internal dock for landing crafts. This new ship is an intelligent mixture of aircraft carrier and assault ship and will give to the Spanish Navy an operational capacity him of enormous strategic importance.
The novel aspect of this ship is that the ship has been designed for the first time taking care of the possibility of operation with elements and material of the Ground forces, being prepared to operate from its cover and to transport in its hangars heavy apparatuses of the Airmobile forceses of the Tierra Army (FAMET) or to transport in its warehouses and to disembark to heavy vehicles of the bearing of the cars battle Leopard that will equip our Army.
As far as technical innovations, this project contemplates for the first time in a unit of our Navy, the use of die'sel-electrical propulsion, connected - for the first time also not to helices, but to a pair of pods azimuthal.
On 05 September of 2003 the Cabinet authorized to the Ministry of Defense the beginning of the necessary performances for the acquisition of four armament programs for the Spanish Armed Forces by a global amount that ascends to 4,176.87 million euros. These cuatros programs affect the following vehicles: 24 Helicopters battle. 4 S-80 Submarines. A Ship of strategic Projection LL. 212 Vehicles battle Pizarro.
On 05 September of 2003 the Cabinet authorized to the Ministry of Defense the beginning of the necessary performances for the acquisition of four armament programs for the Spanish Armed Forces by a global amount that ascends to 4,176.87 million euros. These cuatros programs affect the following vehicles: 24 Helicopters battle. 4 S-80 Submarines. A Ship of strategic Projection LL. 212 Vehicles battle Pizarro.
In the naval scope, the strategic projection means the real capacity to take to the naval action and its influence on earth to the chosen coastal scene, to be able to act in him with freedom of action and during the necessary time, and to cooperate to the projection and support of specific means of other Armies, specially the one of Earth. This capacity constitutes the fundamental contribution of the Navy to the joint and combined strategy as far as dissuasion, crisis management and answer in case of training. The construction of Ship LL supposes four million direct working hours in HOISTING, which is equivalent to the use of 450 people during five years, and other six million hours in induced work. All it is equivalent to the use of 1,630 people during the five years in which the duration of the work is considered. Its budget reaches the 360 million euros.
The Ship of Strategic Projection was in a period of definition and development, anticipating itself the order of execution for October of 2003. If there are no alterations in the anticipated schedule, the construction of the ship was to begin in 2005. The launching would take place in February of 2007, and will be given to the Navy in May of 2008.
In October 2004, the Navy of Australia signed a contract with Izar by which the Spanish society was in charge to make the study of viability of the construction of a ship of strategic projection, hybrid model between an aircraft carrier and a amphibious ship, by an amount of 2 million dollars (1.6 million euros). If the study of viability of the Spanish society were chosen in the aid in whom French DCN also participates, Izar and the Australian Navy they would come to the negotiation of new contracts for the other two phases: the functional project and the project of constructive detail and. The ship of strategic projection account with a amphibious platform with an important embarked aerial weapon, reason why its capacity for helicopters allows it to be used in missions of rescue and support in case of natural disasters.
On 30 July 2004 the Spanish Cabinet authorised Izar to constitute a new company in order to respond to the crisis facing these shipyard - basically due to the grave situation facing Izar and also because of the obligation to return subsidies that had been deemed incompatible with European Union norms - the framework of European law awarding independent treatment to the activity of military naval construction because of its special characteristics. The agreement signed with the trade unions on 16 December 2004 opened the way to find a solution and a future for Izar's shipyards, including both the civil yards -through the inclusion of private venture capital- and the military ones that make up Navantia.
On the other hand, Izar decided to delay its meeting of shareholders that will approve its dissolution from the 18 to the 31 of March 2005, before the failure to load of work that registers the shipyards civil public of Sestao. Gijón. Maniscs and Seville, and that can make difficult its process of sale, informed to Europe Press sources into the sector. The shipyards Spanish public decided to pospone the predicted date initially, of 18 March 2005, to summon their universal shareholder, the State Society of Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), with the purpose of worrying until the legal limit the period to obtain more hirings in the activity of civil construction. The meeting of shareholders Izar decide the 31 March the replacement of capital not to give back the amount of 1,200 million euros, therefore it approved the dissolution and liquidation with the sale of assets.
2005 saw the birth of Navantia, a publicly-owned naval shipbuilding company, arising from Izar being split into two separate firms with the aim of achieving greater business efficiency. The new Spanish military shipbuilder, Navantia, was unveiled on 2 March 2005 by Pedro Solbes, the Spanish government's second vice-prime minister and economics minister, along with Enrique Martínez Robles, the Chairman of the state holding company Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), and the Chairman of the new company, Juan Pedro Gómez Jaén. The company, specialising in the design, construction and integration of military ships, is owned by SEPI and is the result of the desegregation of Izar's military activities in line with the agreement reached in order to make publicly-owned shipyards viable.
In May 2005 the construction of the Ship of Strategic Projection has began simultaneous in the facilities of Ferrol (with the cut of the first plate corresponding to Block 320) and in Fene (with the cut of the first plate corresponding to Block 330). The ship, that supposes a service load of 3,100,000 hours of production and 775,000 hours of Engineering, will be launched in November 2007 and it will be given to the Navy in December 2008.
| Project | NUP (IT) | BPC (FR) | LL (ES) |
| Length PP | 236,5 ms | 199 ms | 217 ms |
| Sleeve máx. | 39 ms | 32 ms | 32 ms |
| Displacement p.c. | 26,700 t | 21,300 t | 25,500 t |
| Ppal propulsion. | Gas turbines | Electrical ( pods ) | Electrical ( pods ) |
| Speed máx. | 28 n | 18.8 n | 22 n |
| Autonomy | 7.000 to 16 n | - | 9.000 to 15 n |
| Dowry | 486 people | 160 people | 175 people |
Maxima sleeve................................................................ 32.00 ms.
Prop to Flight deck.............................................. 27.50 ms.
Total displacement in Amphibious operations......... 27,082 tons
Terminal velocity in condition of total load............. 21.0 knots
