Russia, France started exclusive talks on Mistral

02.03.2010
On March 1 Russia and France started exclusive talks on four Mistral-class helicopter carriers, said yesterday French president Nicolas Sarkozy summarizing negotiations with Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

According to Sarkozy, Mistral will be constructed for Russia without military equipment. First and, probably, second carriers will be built at Saint-Nazaire shipyard at France's Atlantic coast. Procurement of Mistral is not only symbol of confidence between the two countries but also possibility "to achieve objects we don't have at the moment and want to produce in cooperation with other states", underlined Dmitry Medvedev.

France consented to sell Mistral to Russia early February.

Russia will be capable to create Mistral-class ship only in 5-10 years; our country has climbed down in military technologies during last 15-20 years so Mistral carriers triply outclass our warships at all parameters – they consume 3 times less fuel than Russian ones and have 4 times bigger displacement, said General of the Army Nikolai Makarov, Chief of General Staff in Feb. Those carriers are multifunctional and can be used as helicopter carriers, landing craft, command and control ships, hospitals and transport platforms, Makarov said.

Late 2009 the top-ranking official from Russian Navy Main HQ reported to RIA Novosti that Russia was planning to purchase French helicopter carrier Mistral and construction technologies to build about four ships of that class at domestic shipyards.

At present, French Navy has two Mistral-class landing crafts – Mistral and Tonnerre. One more ship is under construction now. Ships of this class are built at shipyards in Brest (Brest Arsenal) and Saint-Nazaire. Displacement of a Mistral-class ship is 16,500 tons; total displacement is 21,300 tons, load displacement is 32,300 tons; length is 199 meters; beam is 32 meters; draft is 6.3 meters; speed is 18.8 knots; operating range is 10,800 km at 18 knots and 19,800 km at 15 knots; crew is 160. Capacity is 2 air-cushion landing ships; 4 transport barges; 59 vehicles or 40 Leclerc tanks; 16 heavy or 35 light helicopters; 900 marines for short period and 450 – while long-term cruises. Armament: 2 Simbad air defense systems, 2 x 30-mm Breda-Mauser gun mounts, 4 x 12.7-mm M2-HB Browning machineguns. Except Russia, such countries have shown interest to buy Mistral-class ships as Republic of South Africa, Germany, Canada, Malaysia, and Sweden. Reportedly, cost of one Mistral-class ship makes 400-500 mln euro.

Source: RusNavy.com, photo: Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev (AP)