Posted on 09/07/2011 9:11:16 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Russia to sign deal for 2 more French warships by yearend
Mistral-class amphibious assault ship
© AFP/ Eric Feferberg
17:24 07/09/2011
Russia will sign a contract with France for the third and fourth Mistral-class amphibious assault ships before the end of this year, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Wednesday.
"I believe we should complete the negotiating process and have these contracts signed before the end of the year," he said.
The two new warships will be built in Russia, he added.
Russia is also buying related technology and has two crews being trained in France, the minister said.
Russia and France signed a $1.7 billion (1.2 bln euro) contract in June on two French-built Mistral class amphibious assault ships for the Russian Navy, which includes the transfer of sensitive technologies.
The helicopter carriers are due to enter service with the Northern and the Pacific fleets in 2014 and 2015.
A Mistral-class ship is capable of carrying 16 helicopters, four landing vessels, 70 armored vehicles, and 450 personnel.
So where does Russia think they’ll need to mount an amphibious assault?
Suriname.
Are the Russians going to have a "propeller must not fall off" clause?
Guess they just specialize in nuclear subs and carriers..
The Rooskies are building them for France, I think.
They don’t need the ship itself, it doesn’t fit into any Russian amphibious assault doctrine.
They need the technology used to build a ship to update their own classes using it.
My bad..I read it wrong.....thanks..
I thought you’d find this interesting.
The French are buying Russian made ships? Now, there’s some good news.
Wow, Russians buying major military hardware from a member of NATO.
Other way around. Mistral is a French design.
The chinese have already stolen all the russian designs — so the russians have nothing more to sell to the chinese.
North Korea is a very likely destination - at least for peacekeeping purposes and to secure nuclear sites - once the regime falls. And fall it will.
Apparently they do, since that's where the two ships will be built.
However having shipyards and workers has nothing to do with having a mountain of blueprints that tell you exactly what piece of steel goes where. It's a large ship, and R&D from scratch will take too long and will cost just about as much as the contract with France. It makes sense to invest into your own blueprints only if you plan to build many more - and as it seems Russia doesn't need more. These ships will serve for several decades, and then something else will be available.
Republic of Georgia?
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Doubt it. Amphibious assault ships are large and very useful vessels but they are not difficult to build. Not compared to a carrier and certainly not to a nuclear sub.
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