France, Russia, and the Mistral Saga

jmj_overlord

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

this is something new........russians buying foreign equipments
 

Virendra

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

Finally after so many controversies, nays and yays !! Did the Russians get the kind of docking they wanted?
Thier preferred landing boats were incompatible to the dock of French mistral and that was the bone of contention.

Related reading for more background on this deal - http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/...gotiations-fail-amphibious-assault-ships.html

Regards,
Virendra
 

Abhijeet Dey

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

Indian Navy is also on the lookout for 4 Multi Role support vessels and French Mistral class may be the top contender.

LINK:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Role_Support_Vessel"Ž
 

SajeevJino

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Mistral Class LHD

First Russian Mistral-class helicopter carrier launched in French town of Saint-Nazaire


The ceremony of launching of Russia's first helicopter carrier of the Mistral-class has taken place in the French town of Saint-Nazaire, according to the STX France, the company that assembled the ship's hull.






The launch ceremony began at 10.45 am local time [12.45 am Moscow time]. It will last until noon," STX France press service said.

Several shipyards built Russia's first Mistral called Vladivostok.

STX France built the ship's hull and Russia's Baltiysky Zavod, which is a part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), built the ship's stern.

STX France and Baltiysky Zavod are building parts for the second Mistral-class helicopter carrier called Sevastopol.

Rosoboronexpert and France's DCSN signed a contract for two Mistral ships in June 2011.

The USC is subcontractor of STX France. The Mistral-class helicopter carrier is 199 meters long. Its beam is 32 meters and draft is 6.2 meters. The ship's standard displacement is 22,600 tonnes. A Mistral crew has 177 crewmembers. It can carry 481 passengers. The ship will carry Kamov Ka-52L helicopters. It may also be equipped with Russia's Serna and Dyugon landing vessels.



Many military pundits say the Mistrals are more than just helicopter carriers. They are in fact a class of multi-purpose amphibian assault vessels capable of carrying armed vehicles, helicopter groups and a command center. The warship built for Russia, the Vladivostok, will be first sent to the Severnaya shipyard in St. Petersburg where it will be outfitted with additional equipment and weapons. The design of Russia's Mistral helicopter carriers has also been altered. For instance, they got a stronger hull that will allow the navy ship to perform tasks beyond the Arctic circle. Viktor Baranets, a Russian military expert, shared with the Voice of Russia more details on the new ship.

"French vessels will be redesigned to meet Russian standards. They will be equipped with Russian weapons and carry about 16 heavy or 32 light choppers, as well as some serious anti-aircraft systems. They'll also be provided with tactical nuclear complexes, such as supersonic cruise missiles Kalibri and some serious radar systems," Mr. Baranets said.

Another thing on the list of readjustments is the ship's deployment system and infrastructure engineering facilities. The Vladivostok is set to join the Russian Navy in the Pacific by 2014.



Russia's Mistral-type Vladivostok helicopter carrier will make its maiden voyage in March 2014, Yves Destefanis, a senior executive of the French DCNS naval shipbuilding company, told reporters on Tuesday.

"The maiden voyage is scheduled for March 2014. And in October 2014, the ship will set out for St. Petersburg where the finishing touches will be put," Destefanis said at a ceremony of putting Russia's first Mistral-type helicopter carrier afloat.


The Russian Navy will launch its first Mistral-class helicopter carrier on October 15, that is according to Interfax news agency, citing the French company STX France.

The second Mistral-class ship 'Sevastopol' is scheduled for the delivery in October 2014, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

The Mistral-class multipurpose ships have enough capacity to carry 16 helicopters, up to 40 tanks and some 600 troops. With addition of their operational range of nearly 40,000 km, the new-generation vessels are said to be of a strategic importance for the Russian navy.

The 1.2-billion-euro contract for two Mistral-class ships was signed between Russia and France in 2011. Although the bilateral project has been subject to criticism for being 'political,' rather than beneficial, its proponents argue that as well as strengthening the country's ties, it would also give Russia access to the latest naval technology.

At least one of the Mistral-class ships is said to be intended for Russia's Pacific Fleet, which has already prompted concerns in Japan.

The Pacific Fleet human resources department is recruiting contract servicemen to operate the Vladivostok and Sevastopol Mistral-class helicopter carriers, Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. 1st Rank Roman Martov said.

"The ships will have crews of over 200 men, and all of them will be officers, warrant officers or contract servicemen. The Pacific Fleet human resources department is recruiting crewmembers. The crews of the helicopter carriers will be formed in November 2013," Martov said.

Apart from the standard fleet recruitment requirements, the recruitment commission will pay attention to the education of candidates.

Warrant officers and contract servicemen need at least to have completed secondary specialized education to qualify.

Psychological tests will also be important.

Qualification rules will be strict for the prospective pilots and technicians, Martov said.

He said that pilots would go on long-distance voyages aboard the helicopter carriers and experience all aspects of the naval service.

After the first helicopter carrier's hull is launched, the crews will be trained in St. Petersburg and accept the ships in France, the fleet spokesman said.

The first Mistral class helicopter carrier "Vladivostok" will be handed over to the Russian Navy on November 1 next year, a high official with Russia's defense industry has said on Friday.

The launch of the ship will take place in Saint-Nazaire, France, on October 15 this year.

"During the year we're going to finish its equipment and to test it in order to hand it over to the Russian Navy on November 1, 2014," the official claimed.

After this, the vessel will arrive in St Petersburg where, as planned, it will be armed and the equipment of the ship will be finished at the Severnaya Verf shipyard. Rosoboroneksport and the French DCNS company signed a $1.2-billion contract for building of the first two helicopter carriers in June 2011.

United Shipbuilding Corporation is involved in a deal as a contractor of a French builder of ships, STX France, situated in Saint-Nazaire. Two other ships of this class are to be built in Russia in accordance with the French technology.


First Russian Mistral-class helicopter carrier launched in French town of Saint-Nazaire - News - Russia - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video
 

arnabmit

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rock127

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

Russians buying defense stuff??? :rolleyes:
 

I-G

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

this is something new........russians buying foreign equipments
Its mainly linked to the dispute in Arctic region . Russians for sure will place these amphibious assault ships in Arctic and Mediterranean .
 

jmj_overlord

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

Its mainly linked to the dispute in Arctic region . Russians for sure will place these amphibious assault ships in Arctic and Mediterranean .
any further info regarding the dispute in arctic region........
 

I-G

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

any further info regarding the dispute in arctic region........
Time to time Russian fighter planes are violating airspace in Arctic region , some times finnish airspace , some times Norwegian, Some times Sweden ..its never ending .
 

cobra commando

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

French-built warship bought by Russia takes test run


[highlight]A view of the Vladivostok warship, a Mistral class LHD amphibious vessel ordered by Russia, at the STX France shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, northwestern France, on Wednesday.[/highlight]

PARIS—A French-built warship designed to strengthen Russia's ability to deploy troops, tanks and helicopter gunships is getting its first test run Wednesday — just as Western powers are trying to rein in Russian President Vladimir Putin's military threat to Ukraine. A spokesman for the shipbuilder says the Vladivostok helicopter carrier is setting sail from the French Atlantic port of Saint- Nazaire. A few hundred kilometres away in Paris, France's government is hosting American, Russian and other leading world diplomats Wednesday amid mounting tensions over Ukraine. The warship is part of a 1.2- billion-euro deal ($1.6-billion) that marked the biggest-ever sale of NATO weaponry to Moscow, a deal that already raised eyebrows both within Russia's military circles and among France's Western allies when it was struck in 2011. France has criticized Russia's military incursion into Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, but says it has no plans to scrap the defence deal. That's because France, like many of Russia's European trading partners, has found itself wedged between efforts to squeeze Russia diplomatically and its own economic interests. The French government's top priority is reviving the lacklustre economy and battling unemployment, and this deal underpins some 1,000 jobs.


Read more here:
French-built warship bought by Russia takes test run | Toronto Star
 

SajeevJino

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

France may scrap Russian Mistral-class LHD deal

France's foreign minister has said he "could envisage" scrapping the contract to sell two Mistral-class landing helicopter dock (LHD) ships to Russia if it attempts to annex more territory from Ukraine.

Although Laurent Fabius indicated that cancellation would be dependent on other European countries imposing similarly tough sanctions, his comments are the first sign of serious unease within the French government over the deal since pro-Russian forces seized facilities in the Crimea in late February.

On 18 March, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a bill to absorb Crimea into Russia. The move followed a snap referendum in which 97% of voters in the peninsula reportedly elected to split from Ukraine.

Interviewed on TF1 television on 17 March, Mr Fabius said: "If Putin continues like this, we could envisage cancelling the [Mistral] sales. We will ask others - I'm thinking of the British in particular - to do something equivalent with the assets of the Russian oligarchs in London. The sanctions must affect everyone."

Any move to block the LHD contract "would be part of the third level of sanctions", Fabius said, "but for the moment we are at the second level".

The first ship, Vladivostok , was floated out from STX France's Saint-Nazaire shipyard in October 2013 and is scheduled for delivery to the Russian Ministry of Defence in late 2014. The second vessel, Sevastopol , is due for delivery in 2015.

Russia and France signed an agreement in January 2011 for four LHDs, two of them to be built in France under the prime contractorship of DCNS and two under licence by Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation.
The latter is also responsible for fabricating the aft section of the first two ships at its St Petersburg yard.

While DCNS would not comment on the remarks made by the minister, the company told IHS Jane's back in October 2013 that the programme was running to schedule.

France may scrap Russian Mistral-class LHD deal - IHS Jane's 360
 

happy

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

France delays warship deal with Russia, but rules out suspension - France-Russia - RFI

Asked if the deal would be cancelled, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said "the delivery of the first boat is due in October, so the question of a suspension will arise in October."

The deal, the first between Russia and a Nato country, had already raised deep misgivings among France's allies when it was signed in 2011 only a few years after Russian invaded Georgia.

But despite the threat of another war involving Moscow, François Hollande insisted the contract would be honoured. Suspending the sale could lead to France paying high penalties. And with 1,000 jobs dependent on the Mistral deal, Paris has been reluctant to include it as part of Western efforts to sanction Vladimir Putin.
France Should Return Money if Warship Deal Cancelled – Rogozin | Russia | RIA Novosti

"Either stick to your contract obligations and deliver the warships in time, or return the money and parts of these warships' hulls, assembled at our Baltiysky Zavod [shipyard]," said Dmitry Rogozin, a deputy premier in charge of the defense industry.

A source in Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation told RIA Novosti on the condition of anonymity that France will also have to pay huge penalties if it chooses to unilaterally terminate the contract.
 

Ash

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No decision on French carrier deal to Russia before Oct-source

PARIS (Reuters) - France will not review its 1.2 billion-euro (980 million pounds) contract to sell helicopter carriers to Russia earlier than planned because of the Ukraine crisis, despite U.S. concerns, a French government source said on Thursday.

Paris has come under pressure from Washington and some European partners to reconsider its supply of high-tech military hardware to Moscow, and has responded by saying it will review the deal in October - but not before.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington on Thursday that she had qualms about the deal.

"We have regularly and consistently expressed our concerns about this sale, even before we had the latest Russian actions, and we will continue to do so," she said, responding to a query by U.S. Republican representative Adam Kinzinger.

Kinzinger said: "I'm not here to bash the French - but I think this is a time when the French could stop that sale from happening and send a very strong message to the Russians."

The comments come just three days before French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is due to travel to the United States, setting up a potentially uncomfortable meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday.

"Our position remains the same. No decision before October," a French government source said.

French officials have shied away from discussing whether the 2011 contract with Russia for two Mistral helicopter carriers, with an option for two more, could be suspended to show French resolve in future sanctions against Moscow.

Russia's Mistral purchase would give it access to advanced technology, alarming some of France's NATO allies.

In an interview with Reuters this week, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said he believed the European Union should include an arms embargo in any new round of sanctions on Russia.

The long-discussed French sale was Moscow's first major foreign arms purchase in the two decades since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy had hailed the signing of the Mistral contract as evidence the Cold War was over. It has created about 1,000 jobs in France.

The first carrier, the Vladivostok, is due to be delivered by the last quarter of 2014. The second, named Sebastopol after the Crimean seaport, is supposed to be delivered by 2016.

About 400 Russian sailors are due to come to France in June to receive training for the Mistral. The carriers can hold up to 16 helicopters, such as Russia's Ka-50/52s.

No decision on French carrier deal to Russia before Oct-source
 

Ash

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Re: No decision on French carrier deal to Russia before Oct-source

"Kinzinger said: "I'm not here to bash the French - but I think this is a time when the French could stop that sale from happening and send a very strong message to the Russians."

and what messgae would that be...that the French are safely in the pockets of the Americans?
 

Ash

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Re: No decision on French carrier deal to Russia before Oct-source

France will honour Russian contract

Paris - France would press ahead with a €1.2bn contract to sell Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia because cancelling the deal would do more damage to Paris than to Moscow, French diplomatic sources said on Monday.

France's move illustrates the limitations of European Union sanctions meant to punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea and dissuade Moscow from intervening in east Ukraine.

Contract

The United States has been pressing France, Germany and Britain to take a tougher line against Russia, but for France, this would mean at least delaying the Mistral contract.

For Britain, closing its mansions and bank vaults to magnates close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and for Germany, initiating gradual steps to reduce dependency on Russian gas.

France had said it would review the deal in October - but not before.

However, French diplomatic sources said on Monday that the 2011 contract with Russia for two Mistral helicopter carriers, with an option for two more, would not be part of a third round of sanctions against Moscow.

Ships

"The Mistrals are not part of the third level of sanctions. They will be delivered. The contract has been paid and there would be financial penalties for not delivering it.

"It would be France that is penalised. It's too easy to say France has to give up on the sale of the ships. We have done our part."

The Russian defence ministry warned Paris in March that it would have to repay the cost of the contract and additional penalties if it cancelled the deal.



France will honour Russian contract | Fin24
 

TrueSpirit1

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Re: No decision on French carrier deal to Russia before Oct-source

What is the role & specialty of Mistral ? I mean, what is so special about it that Russia had to get it from France ? Anyone knows ?
 

cobra commando

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Re: France Floats Out First Russian Mistral Warship

France Might Withhold 2nd
Mistral Ship From Russia


PARIS — French defense officials are exploring ideas to avoid delivering a second helicopter carrier to Russia, including looking for an alternative client for the Sevastopol, analysts and an industry executive said. A highly discreet review is being held as armed strife rises in eastern Ukraine and top US officials call for NATO allies to boost defense spending and act as a counterweight to Russia. "The deal raises a fundamental policy issue not just for France but for the alliance," said Robbin Laird of consultancy ICSA, based in Washington and here. Paris is in a political crossfire between the US and Russia. Washington has publicly called for breaking the contract, while Moscow has threatened a hefty financial punishment while praising France's "reliability as a partner." In 2011, Russia signed a deal for the two Mistral-class carriers, listed as amphibious assault ships or landing helicopter dock, worth €1.2 billion (US $1.6 billion) with a first delivery in four years. Moscow also holds an option for two more vessels. France is effectively "trapped" on the Vladivostok, the first of the two ships, with a delivery in October, Laird said. But French officials are reviewing the second vessel, along with considering offering the ship to another nation. "The ministry is clearly looking for an alternative," Laird said. Russia has yet to pay fully for the Sevastopol, allowing France some time to explore options, he said. That second ship is due for delivery late next year.


Read more here:
France Might Withhold 2nd Mistral Ship From Russia | Defense News | defensenews.com
 

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