France sells Foudre LPD to Armada de Chile

: Posted On Wednesday, 12 October 2011 15:21

World Navy Force News - France / Chile

France sells Foudre LPD to Armada de Chile

The Government of Chile completed negotiations with his French counterpart for the acquisition of amphibious landing ship, Foudre LPD. This ship would replace the Newport class Valdivia LST, retired from active duty with the Navy of Chile on January 14, 2011, after 15 years of service.

French Navy operated two Foudre class ships, the Foudre (L9011), commissioned in 1990 and the Siroco (L9012) commissioned in 1998, both built by DCNS. The class is capable of landing a cavalry regiment of mechanized infantry on unprepared coasts, serve as command ship, serve as a hospital ship with 2 fully equipped operating rooms and 47 beds as well as assisting in humanitarian relief missions , in which case it can accommodate up to 1,600 people. Its endurance at sea is about 30 days.

The Government of Chile completed negotiations with his French counterpart for the acquisition of amphibious landing ship, Foudre LSD. This ship would replace the Newport class Valdivia LST, retired from active duty with the Navy of Chile on January 14, 2011, after 15 years of service.

Foudre LPD
(picture: French Navy)

The ship returned to Toulon at the end of May following a 4-month deployment to the western coast of Africa.
The Foudre has also been offered to the navies of Argentina and Brazil.

The class has a crew of about 200 sailors with facilities to accommodate 467 troops. The flight deck of the ship is 1450 square meters , with space for 7 medium class helictopers (3 landing spots) and can 4 helicopters in its hangar. Foudre class displaces 12,000 tons full load and has a range of 11,000 nm at 15 knots.

The deal is reported to amount around USD80 million.