Chile Buys French Amphibious Ship - Armchair General and HistoryNet >> The Best Forums in History

Persephone · #1 13 Oct 11, 20:44

Chile beat out Brazil and Argentina for this deal, said to be worth $80 million.

Quote:

2nd Time Lucky: Chile Buys French Amphibious Ship

Oct 13, 2011 17:36 EDT

The 12,000t FS Foudre was commissioned in 1990, so she is many years older than Largs Bay. On the other hand, Chile’s needs a replacement for its 8,687t Valdivia Newport Class LST, which was retired in January after almost 40 years of combined US/Chilean service…

Chile’s 2010 earthquake underlined the importance of being able to deliver aid by sea, and LSD/ LPD/ LHD amphibious ships’ combination of landing craft and helicopters makes them invaluable for that role. Foudre will reportedly be renamed “Sergeant Village” when she joins Chile’s smaller 1,400t ships, LST-92 Rancagua and LST-95 Chacabuco.
Foudre Class LSDs hold about 200 crew and up to 467 troops/passengers, which can grow to 1,400 passengers in a dire emergency. Outside of emergencies, the ship can hold 100 vehicles, or up to 22 of Chile's new Leopard 2A4 tanks. To deliver them ashore, her 13,000 square meter well deck can hold a tank landing ship (LSM) and 4 medium landing craft (LCM), or remove the LSM and operate a total of 10 LCMs. Up to 11 medium helicopters can be carried between her landing deck and hangar, but in order to take advantage of that, Chile would need to either buy more helicopters, or divert them from other services.

Link to full article:
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/...us-Ship-07146/

craven · #2 13 Oct 11, 23:45

am i reading this right it holds only 500 men

Persephone · #3 14 Oct 11, 03:51

It's max limit is a tad bit more than 500...

Quote:

Foudre Class LSDs hold about 200 crew and up to 467 troops/passengers, which can grow to 1,400 passengers in a dire emergency.

***GCoyote*** · #4 14 Oct 11, 10:47

Most countries can't field more than a battalion of marines/naval infantry at one go anyway. With such a long coastline, they seem to need this regardless.

pampa168 · #5 14 Oct 11, 12:24

30% of the income that enters trough copper exportation (the main export of Chile) goes to the armed forces. Right now is a lot of money...

Chile had problems with Argentina in the past, but right now their main conflicts are with Peru and Bolivia, anyway they can beat the crap of both them easily. Adding the current Argentinean military doesn't make a difference, since the 80s that they don't exists anymore.

tcox · #6 14 Oct 11, 13:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by pampa168

30% of the income that enters trough copper exportation (the main export of Chile) goes to the armed forces. Right now is a lot of money...

Chile had problems with Argentina in the past, but right now their main conflicts are with Peru and Bolivia, anyway they can beat the crap of both them, together easily. If adding the current Argentinean military doesn't make a difference. Since the 80s that they don't exists anymore.

They've had that conflict with Bolivia and Peru ever since the end of the War of the Pacific

Legate · #7 14 Oct 11, 20:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by pampa168

30% of the income that enters trough copper exportation (the main export of Chile) goes to the armed forces. Right now is a lot of money...

Chile had problems with Argentina in the past, but right now their main conflicts are with Peru and Bolivia, anyway they can beat the crap of both them easily. Adding the current Argentinean military doesn't make a difference, since the 80s that they don't exists anymore.

I've been curious,has Peru been slipping into the Chavez/Venezuela camp?

Persephone · #8 18 Oct 11, 04:22

It's a done deal. Looks like Chile is merely replacing aging, decommissioned ships.

Quote:

SANTIAGO, Chile, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Chile is going ahead with the purchase of a reconditioned French navy ship in an $80 million deal that will take the Latin American country a step closer to much needed and delayed military modernization.
Navy Commander Adm. Edmundo Gonzalez-Robles said the Foudre's purchase was more than a new acquisition.
"What we are doing is recovering the capacity we lost when Valdivia after fifteen years in service was decommissioned," he said.
The ship will give Chilean navy capacity that it doesn't have. Having the ship in the navy means "we can transport in a single trip the whole population of Chaiten or the island of Juan Fernandez, if a natural disaster were to happen and which we have gone through recently," Gonzalez-Robles said.

Last year Chile bought a 42,000-ton tanker from the U.S. Navy. AO-52 Almirante Montt replaced AO-53 Araucano, which was decommissioned after 40 years of service.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Sec...#ixzz1b7RkqTWr