The SAAF Forum

Cost of Mistral re-sale to French taxpayer revealed

rance's Senate released a report on 29 September outlining the cost to the French government and industry of the failed sale of the Mistral-class amphibious assault vessels to Russia.

Should the sale of the vessels to Egypt proceed, the French government is expected to see a shortfall of between EUR200 million (USD200 million) and EUR250 million as a result of the refund to Russia over the cancelled delivery.

French industry will also face some losses under the cancellation, with uninsured expenses such as berthing and maintenance fees, removal of Russian equipment, as well as lost profits, being in the region of EUR90-146 million.

It is expected that the sale of the vessels will go ahead, with delivery of the former vessels Vladivostok and Sevastopol taking place in 2016.

The sale of the vessels to Egypt was announced on 23 September, following the cancellation of the contract between Russia and France for the vessels in August. France agreed to return EUR950 million to Russia on 3 September and took ownership of the vessels as a result of the contract termination.

Charles Forrester, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
30 September 2015

France Russia Mistral Deal 2015: Egypt's Helicopters Won't Be Delivered Until Russian Equipment Dismantled, Rostec Says

Russian aircraft makers will not build helicopters for Egypt's recently purchased Mistral aircraft carriers until Russia's
equipment is dismantled from the ships, the head of Rostec, a Russian state-owned corporation that builds military
equipment, said Monday. The pair of Mistrals sold to Egypt by France were initially intended for Russia and needed to
have their equipment disassembled prior to any deals, Russian state-owned news agency Tass reported. "Egypt has
not yet made the request because our equipment has not been dismantled yet from the Mistrals," Sergey Chemezov,
head of Rostec, said at a Dubai air show Monday.

"As soon as the work is over, we’ll be able to offer both our equipment and our helicopters." The Mistral warships were
built for Russia by a French manufacturer following a deal made by the two governments in 2011. The sale of the
Mistrals would have been the first arms deal between Russia and a Western power in history. Following Russia’s
annexation of the Crimean peninsula and reported armed support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, French
President Francois Hollande cancelled the deal in 2014. France struggled to find a buyer for over a year until Egypt
bought both of the ships in a $1 billion deal in September. France refunded Russia around $1 billion for cancellation of
the deal.

Russia offered to outfit the Mistrals with helicopters and electronic equipment shortly after Egypt announced the
purchase. "Russia will be, if you want, a subcontractor who will supply the missing equipment without which the
Mistral warships are just a tin can -- and of course, all the helicopters,” Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov said in
October, as reported by Russian news agency Sputnik International. The sale of helicopters and electronics to Egypt
could amount to $1 billion in revenue for Russia, he said.

Egyptian navy buys 46 Ka-52K attack helicopters

Egypt is to acquire 46 navalised Kamov Ka-52K attack helicopters to equip its new French-built Mistral-class amphibious assault ships.

According to Kamov parent Russian Helicopters, the deal with Cairo has been signed via Russia’s Rosoboronexport arms export agency.

Writing in the latest issue of its corporate magazine, Russian Helicopters chief executive Alexander Mikheev says despite the “challenging environment” for overseas sales, it was still able to bring in new business.

These include “a major contract” “signed with Egypt by Rosoboronexport for 46 Ka-52 Alligators”.

No delivery timeframe has been released, however, although Egypt is likely to receive the two helicopter carriers by mid-year.

The naval variant of the twin Klimov VK-2500-powered Ka-52 features folding coaxial rotors and stub-wings.

Russia gives up on helicopter carriers

On August 20, Russia's Minister for Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, said that Russia would not be building its own helicopter carriers. However, in June of this year, deputy commander-in-chief of the Navy for armament, Vice-Admiral Viktor Bursuk, said that Russian helicopter carriers would be built after 2020. "We will have these ships, they are included in the ship-building program, and they will be built during the second stage of the implementation of the program - after 2020," Bursuk said a few months ago.

Even earlier, Russian ship-builders unveiled a model of the Russian helicopter carrying vessel. The project was called "Priboi." After the presentation, it was reported that Russia would build two of such vessels for the price of 40 billion roubles each.

The topic of Mistral helicopter carriers has been under debate since the time when Russia signed the relevant contract with France in 2011. In 2015, France terminated the deal because of the crisis in Ukraine, even though two vessels had been built by that time. Russian navy men were undergoing training on one of them. In the long run, the French managed to sell those two vessels to Egypt.

Why is Russia having so much hassle because of helicopter carriers? Director of the Center for Strategic Studies, Ivan Konovalov, said in an interview with Pravda.Ru that Mistral ships are referred to as "the ship of the projection of power" in France. In other words, these ships are designed for military operations in remote areas far from homeland.

"For France, this is still essential, because France has a huge zone of influence in Africa, its former colonies. French troops travel to Africa on a regular basis, but why would Russia need this class of vessels?" the expert wondered.

"Russian concluded the deal for those two Mistral ships for political reasons in the first place. First of all, Moscow wanted the world to see that Russia was ready for large-scale cooperation in defense, to conclude multi billion-dollar contracts with NATO countries. Secondly, then president of France Nicolas Sarkozy positioned himself as a great friend of Russia.

In 2008, he contributed to the peace process in the Caucasus. Russia ended the conflict with Georgia without any significant political losses largely owing to France," Ivan Konovalov said. In general, one can see that Russia has big doubts about the need to build helicopter carriers for its navy. The project is expensive, plus one does not know whether the Russian Navy needs vessels of this class.

However, officials make contradictory statements on the subject, so it would be incorrect to simply shelve the project. It is worthy of note that Russia already has doubts about the need in state-of-the-art Armata tanks and Su-57 fifth-generation fighter aircraft. It appears that the helicopter carrier project will lose the competition.

Russia to start building 1st helicopter carrier in 2021, says source

There are plans to build the lead universal amphibious assault ship and deliver it to the customer under the state armament program through 2027

KUBINKA /Moscow Region, June 26. /TASS/. Russia plans to build two universal amphibious assault ships capable of carrying 15-20 helicopters under the state armament program through 2027, a source in the domestic defense industry told TASS on the side-lines of the Army-2019 international military and technical forum on Wednesday.

"In the coming months but no later than the end of the year, the Defense Ministry will complete developing technical specifications for a universal amphibious assault ship and send them to the United Shipbuilding Corporation. The state armament program through 2027 includes two universal amphibious assault ships. A preliminary design has been worked out. Technical design work will begin in 2020 and the construction of the lead ship will start in 2021," the source said, adding that the work’s chief contractors had not yet been determined.
There are plans to build the lead universal amphibious assault ship and deliver it to the customer under the state armament program through 2027 while the work on the first serial-produced vessel will be completed before the early 2030s, the source said.

"Although the technical specifications have not yet been formulated, it is possible to speak already now that universal amphibious assault ships will get a large dock chamber to house assault boats and will also be capable of carrying a large air group of helicopters of various designation, including 15-20 permanently based attack gunships," the source said.

Head of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexei Rakhmanov earlier said that Russia needed to build its own helicopter carriers in the future for the prompt deployment of a large grouping of forces. Moreover, these helicopter carriers should not repeat France’s Mistral project.

Universal amphibious assault ships, also called helicopter carriers, are distinguished by their large displacement (20,000 tonnes and more) and can carry a large group of heavy helicopters of various designation (up to 16 helicopters aboard Mistral ships and more than 30 aboard US Wasp-class vessels), and also vertical take-off rotorcraft.

Universal amphibious assault ships can carry from several hundred to over one thousand marine infantry personnel, boats and other craft for landing the assault force and transport the armor. Universal amphibious assault ships normally feature a powerful combat control system and can act as a command and control vessel for a grouping of forces.