*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, Russia - August 27, 2009: Russia wants to buy a French helicopter-carring warship, a top general said Aug. 29. Such a purchase would deviate from the Soviet-era principle of producing every piece of military equipment - from pistol cartridges to ballistic missiles - domestically. 
The Mistral and Tonnerre BPC (bâtiment de projection et de commandement) ships, are the French Navy's new 21,300t amphibious assault, command and power projection ships. The ships have been built by DCN in partnership with Thales and Chantiers de l'Atlantique. Each ship has the payload capacity and versatility to carry up to 16 heavy helicopters and one-third of a mechanised regiment, plus two LCAC hovercraft or up to four landing craft. In April 2007, DCN became DCNS. This followed an agreement in which Thales became a 25% shareholder in the new company and DCN acquired the naval business of Thales France (excluding naval equipment). The Mistral Class is fitted with a high-performance communications suite which makes the ship suitable for deployment as a command vessel. The ships also have the capacity to accommodate a combined (multi-national) joint (i.e. multi-service) task force (CJTF).
The contract for the two vessels was placed in January 2001. Keel for the FS Mistral (L9013) was laid in July 2003 and it was launched from the Brest dockyard in October 2004. Mistral was commissioned into the French Navy in February 2006. Tonnerre (L 9014) was laid down in August 2003 and launched in July 2005. It was commissioned in February 2007. In July 2006, Mistral was deployed of the coast of Lebanon in support of the French Navy Operation Baliste, evacuating French nationals during the conflict involving Israel and the Lebanon. The Mistral and Tonnerre replace the L9021 Ouragan and L9022 Orage which were built at Brest Naval Dockyard and entered service in 1965 and 1968.
Col. Gen. Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the General Staff, told reporters in Ulan Bator, where he was traveling with President Dmitry Medvedev, that "not a single country can produce everything at the high-quality level."
"Anyway, we will have to buy something [abroad]," Makarov said, Interfax news agency reported.
He said that the military would negotiate with the French Defense Ministry and a French shipbuilding company he didn't name, to buy a Mistral-class helicopter carrier that could carry 16 helicopters, 40 tanks or 900 troops. Russian shipyards would then produce three or four additional carriers with France's aid, Makarov said.
"Before the year's end, we plan to obtain contract agreements with a French company allowing the construction and purchase of this ship," Makarov told reporters. "There are no ships of this class in Russia."
France's Navy has two of the 21,300-ton carriers in service, and one more is under construction at the Chantiers de Saint-Nazaire dockyards.
Speculation that the military was interested in buying the helicopter carrier, which costs about $1 billion, according to expert estimates, first surfaced in the local Vedomosti and Kommersant newspapers last month, but Russian officials denied the reports.
Several Russian defense analysts have questioned the expediency of such a costly purchase in the name of national security. Any military conflicts likely to involve Russia would be with its neighbors, like the war last August with Georgia, which would require land troops and equipment rather than a sea vessel, they say.
Manned by 160-strong crew, a Mistral carrier can also carry four assault landing boats, and is armed with two Simbad missile air defense units, two 30mm Breda-Mauser guns and four 12.7mm machine guns.
Russia has already departed recently from its policy of being over-protective of domestic arms producers by buying 12 spy drones from Israel earlier this year for $53 million.
The Mistral and Tonnerre BPC (bâtiment de projection et de commandement) ships, are the French Navy's new 21,300t amphibious assault, command and power projection ships. The ships have been built by DCN in partnership with Thales and Chantiers de l'Atlantique. Each ship has the payload capacity and versatility to carry up to 16 heavy helicopters and one-third of a mechanised regiment, plus two LCAC hovercraft or up to four landing craft. In April 2007, DCN became DCNS. This followed an agreement in which Thales became a 25% shareholder in the new company and DCN acquired the naval business of Thales France (excluding naval equipment). The Mistral Class is fitted with a high-performance communications suite which makes the ship suitable for deployment as a command vessel. The ships also have the capacity to accommodate a combined (multi-national) joint (i.e. multi-service) task force (CJTF).
The contract for the two vessels was placed in January 2001. Keel for the FS Mistral (L9013) was laid in July 2003 and it was launched from the Brest dockyard in October 2004. Mistral was commissioned into the French Navy in February 2006. Tonnerre (L 9014) was laid down in August 2003 and launched in July 2005. It was commissioned in February 2007. In July 2006, Mistral was deployed of the coast of Lebanon in support of the French Navy Operation Baliste, evacuating French nationals during the conflict involving Israel and the Lebanon. The Mistral and Tonnerre replace the L9021 Ouragan and L9022 Orage which were built at Brest Naval Dockyard and entered service in 1965 and 1968.
Col. Gen. Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the General Staff, told reporters in Ulan Bator, where he was traveling with President Dmitry Medvedev, that "not a single country can produce everything at the high-quality level."
"Anyway, we will have to buy something [abroad]," Makarov said, Interfax news agency reported.
He said that the military would negotiate with the French Defense Ministry and a French shipbuilding company he didn't name, to buy a Mistral-class helicopter carrier that could carry 16 helicopters, 40 tanks or 900 troops. Russian shipyards would then produce three or four additional carriers with France's aid, Makarov said.
"Before the year's end, we plan to obtain contract agreements with a French company allowing the construction and purchase of this ship," Makarov told reporters. "There are no ships of this class in Russia."
France's Navy has two of the 21,300-ton carriers in service, and one more is under construction at the Chantiers de Saint-Nazaire dockyards.
Speculation that the military was interested in buying the helicopter carrier, which costs about $1 billion, according to expert estimates, first surfaced in the local Vedomosti and Kommersant newspapers last month, but Russian officials denied the reports.
Several Russian defense analysts have questioned the expediency of such a costly purchase in the name of national security. Any military conflicts likely to involve Russia would be with its neighbors, like the war last August with Georgia, which would require land troops and equipment rather than a sea vessel, they say.
Manned by 160-strong crew, a Mistral carrier can also carry four assault landing boats, and is armed with two Simbad missile air defense units, two 30mm Breda-Mauser guns and four 12.7mm machine guns.
Russia has already departed recently from its policy of being over-protective of domestic arms producers by buying 12 spy drones from Israel earlier this year for $53 million.
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