DCN has completed Pakistani submarine designs

French company to supply submarines to Pak: Report
From Rahul Bedi
DH News Service New Delhi:
French armament conglomerate Direction Des Construction Navales (DCN) — closely involved in the recent Rs 16,000 crore sale of six Scorpene submarines to the Indian Navy — has reportedly completed initial designs for a new conventional submarine type that it plans to offer to Pakistan.

According to Jane’s Defence Weekly of the UK, the French naval builders, combat systems maker and engineering group was considering responding to the Pakistan Navy’s (PN) requirement for at least five new submarines. But it awaited formal clearance from Paris before making Islamabad the offer.

Applications by several French armament manufacturers, including DCN to sell military hardware to Pakistan were reportedly being vetoed by the country’s high-powered defence sales panel on the grounds that such transactions could exacerbate tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad and trigger off an arms race.

Armament industry executives said French defence companies were also “acutely conscious” of the potentially large market India represented and Delhi’s sensitivities regarding weapon sales to Pakistan. This, in turn, prompted circumspection on their part as well as that of the French establishment in all such dealings with Islamabad. In its January 18 issue, Jane’s stated that the design being developed by the DCN, designated Marlin, drew extensively on the technology developed for the export-oriented Scorpene submarine programme. But while the Scorpene, offered to the Indian Navy, was designed in conjunction with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia, DCN is believed to be pursuing the Marlin design as an independent venture. The Scorpenes were sold to the Indian Navy last October by Armaris which was a joint venture between the DCN and Thales, another French defence conglomerate.

Earlier in 1994, the DCN had supplied the PN three Agosta 90B submarines for $ 984 million, two of which had joined service whilst the third is nearing completion at the Karachi shipyard. The PN, which retired four of its French Hangor (Daphne)-class submarines last month, plans to acquire between three and five additional substitutes for delivery over the next decade. Germany’s HDW and Spain’s Navantia are believed to have been asked to submit proposals to the PN for the submarines, Jane’s reported.

Meanwhile, the PN took delivery recently of eight second hand P-3C Orion maritime patrol (MRP) aircraft from the US Navy bringing to 10 its fleet of such assets. Initially, when the US announced the transfer of the surplus MRA to the PN, it indicated that the aircraft would be deployed to augment border security along the Afghan frontier where American forces have been fighting the Taliban since 9/11. But PN officials recently declared that the P-3C’s would, in addition to the Afghan border, also patrol the northern Arabian Sea to keep an eye on the Indian Navy’s activities and also the Persian Gulf region.

Armament industry sources said the P-3C’s were provided free of cost under America’s foreign military sales programme but its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin is expected to subsequently upgrade its avionics suite to suit the PN’s operational requirements. The time frame and cost of this retrofit, however, is not known.

Click to expand...

I wonder if this rapid approval is connected to the French government worries that declining to export might not look so good after the riots ?

Pakistan now has 10 P-3C's ...it's interesting that an army general appears
to be paying such attention to the navy.

DCN Chief Pitches Franco-German Sub
Suggests Project Would Help Europe Maintain Its Edge In Conventional Sub Market

By Pierre Tran, Defense News, 13 Feb 06

Cooperation between France and Germany on new conventional attack submarines would help consolidate capacity and maintain European leadership in a key sector, said Jean-Marie Poimboeuf, the chief executive of French warship builder DCN.

With worldwide annual sales of only two or three conventional submarines and the prospect of competition from Russia, South Korea and India, Europe should cooperate “or risk losing its leadership in conventional submarines,” Poimboeuf told a Jan. 17 press conference.

DCN is studying various technology concepts, among them a mother ship and two mini subs in a networked system, code-named SMX-22, which could be a basis for future cooperation.

Poimboeuf said DCN felt “closer to Germany than Spain” in contemplating an alliance.

Navantia has chosen Lockheed Martin as a partner on the S-80 boat, although the Spanish shipyard and DCN are cooperating on building the Scorpene small patrol submarine (SSK).

DCN strategy director Jacques Mouysset said the cost of developing a new submarine was 100 million to 200 million euros ($120 million to $240 million), which could be split equally if Germany and France cooperated on a next generation of boats.

The submarine was an “emblematic” product for Germany, he said.

The German naval industry has deep expertise in building attack submarines and competes with France in export markets through Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), a division of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS).

But before any Franco-German cooperation can take place, TKMS must complete a domestic industrial restructuring by creating specialized yards for warships, submarines and commercial vessels, Poimboeuf said.

That reorganization could take a year or two, but once done, common development on submarines might cut costs and concentrate skills in prime contracting in Europe, he said.

DCN has made Cherbourg, on the Normandy coast of northern France, its designated submarine yard, where it builds nuclear and conventional boats.

But a Franco-German tie-up also needs a common platform, one analyst said.

“For any defense cooperation to work, you need a common program,” said Sash Tusa, analyst at Goldman Sachs. “There is no clear requirement for Germany to cooperate with France on submarines in the medium term. … In our view, DCN would be better off investing its own money to develop a future submarine for export markets.”

Moving To Head Off Competitors

Goldman Sachs estimates the export market for submarines at $90 billion over the next 25 years, with potential orders for more than 200 conventional diesel-electric boats.

“DCN has done very well with Scorpene, and developing a new patrol submarine would strengthen their position relative to India, Korea, Spain and other emerging competitors,” Tusa said. “Two hundred million euros is a small amount of money to invest, given their 2 billion euros of cash resources.”

One of the projects DCN is studying for export is a boat using technology derived from the Scorpene, code-named “Marlin,” company officials said. DCN and Armaris officials declined to comment on the Marlin project.

French daily newspaper La Tribune reported Jan. 11 that DCN’s hopes of selling the Marlin to Pakistan were dashed by a high-level interministerial committee, because a deal with Islamabad would endanger relations with India.

New Delhi ordered in December from Armaris, the DCN-Thales exports joint venture, six Scorpenes worth 2.4 billion euros, armed with anti-ship missiles from MBDA.

A French defense official said Marlin was a DCN project and was not something the government was pushing. “There is a lot of supply and the market is not a gigantic one,” he said. France is not buying any conventional boats, he added.

Besides India, DCN has sold the Scorpene to Chile and Malaysia. The boat draws heavily on DCN’s experience in building nuclear ballistic missile submarines, which require high levels of stealth, passively listening for threats while operating at speed underwater.



Very interesting article. We aren't going to get a clear idea of what submarine Pakistan is willing to buy until IDEAS 2006.