Imported Mistrals will be equipped with Russian helicopters

18.11.2010 Mistral class amphibious assault landing ships which are planned to be imported for Russian Navy will be equipped exclusively by Russian-made helicopters, said Andrei Shibitov, deputy director general of the holding Russian Helicopters at the forum "Modernization and innovations in helicopter engineering" held today in Moscow.

"Deck-based helicopter group of those ships will be shaped only of Russian copters. In particular, shipborne versions Ka-27K, Ka-29K, and Ka-52K will be used. Their amount for every ship will be determined by defense ministry", reported ITAR-TASS citing Shibitov.

As was previously said by presidential assistant Sergei Naryshkin, "Russia and France have worked out the mechanism of intergovernmental cooperation in the helicopter-carrier project implementation". Particularly, in the international consortium "Russia will be represented by United Shipbuilding Corporation".

We recall that Russian premier Vladimir Putin previously stated that Russia was interested in Mistral procurement only along with technology transfer and involvement of Russian companies.

United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) has already found an alternative to Mistral. The corporation proposed defense ministry to buy analogous Korean landing ship Dokdo which costs $650 mln. Dokdo is designed for littoral operations while Mistral is used for long-range expeditions. It would be difficult to build the ship in Russia within a three-year term, although quite possible in case of sufficient financing.

Working group responsible for procurement of the French ship is headed by vice-premier and USC director Igor Sechin who is the principal opponent of the transaction. USC achieved that defense ministry issued a tender for helicopter carriers. Approximate price of Mistral in France is EUR 340-420 mln.

Russian defense ministry will consider other tender offers, including those of USC shipyards promising to build the ship for $500-700 mln within 30 months. However, the military makes no secret that Mistral is the top priority, so the tender can be a simple formality. The winner will be named late in November.

Mistral is an amphibious assault landing ship which length exceeds 200 meters. Air group includes 16 helicopters; six of them can be simultaneously placed on the flight deck.