The agreement on the construction of Mistral-class helicopter carrier was signed today by Igor Sechin, Russian Vice-Premier, and French Defense Minister Alain Juppe, PRIME-TASS reported. The official signing ceremony held at the shipyards in Saint-Nazaire was attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In late December 2010 Russia and France officially announced that a consortium of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC, Russia), DCNS (France) will build two Mistral warships in Saint-Nazaire and two more - under license – at a Russian shipyard. The tender was announced in October by Russian Ministry of Defense.
In late December 2010 Russia and France officially announced that a consortium of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC, Russia), DCNS (France) will build two Mistral warships in Saint-Nazaire and two more - under license – at a Russian shipyard. The tender was announced in October by Russian Ministry of Defense.
French multipurpose amphibious assault ship of Mistral-class is designed for vehicle and personnel transport and for landing operations. She can also serve as a command ship. Mistral ship’s length is 199, beam - 32 meters. The ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 helicopters (8 landing and 8 assault helicopter gunships), 40 tanks and 70 vehicles. Mistral ship can accommodate 160 crew members and over 150 marines. Its armament includes air defense systems, artillery systems and heavy machine guns. The cost of one amphibious assault ship for the Russian Navy may be around 600 million euros. To date, the French Navy has two Mistral class helicopter carriers. The third warship is under construction.