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Reply To: what makes the Juan Carlos class so popular?

Home Forums Naval Aviation what makes the Juan Carlos class so popular? Reply To: what makes the Juan Carlos class so popular?

#2008927
swerve
Participant

Spain has one because it was designed & built to Spain’s specification.

AFAIK the only competition to it in Australia & Turkey which already existed & was built by someone who’d exported warships before was the Mistral class. The ski-jump may have been a factor, if only for use by allied F-35Bs in emergencies.

The Mistral class was ordered by Russia, cancelled for Russia by France, & the two ships built for Russia sold to Egypt. That’s five Mistrals, vs four Juan Carlos variants to date. Not markedly less successful.

AFAIK the only other existing* LHD on the market is the S. Korean Dokdo class. US LHDs are too expensive to interest other navies.

*As distinct from paper.