Article Posted on : - Mar 17, 2011

Mistral-class helicopter

MOSCOW (BNS): The term of signing Russia-France "Mistral" warship contract is not defined yet, the Russian officials said.

“A contract with France on the construction of modern warships for Russia will be signed when it is ready,” RIA Novosti quoted Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as saying on Wednesday.

On January 25, France and Russia had signed a contract to jointly build the four Mistral class carriers - two to be built at the STX shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, and two in Russia under a French license.

"The scheme of the deal is this: We sign an agency contract with [Russian arms export monopoly] Rosoboronexport, which will procure two warships for the ministry," he said.

"We are interested in two ships on which the French would be under formal obligation to provide post-sales servicing," Serdyukov said.

Russia has decided to spend around 1.15 billion euros for the construction of the warships and also wants the price of construction licenses and technical documentation to be included in the contract, while France insists they should be sold separately for an additional 90 million euros.

Mistral class ships can carry and deploy up to 16 helicopters, including attack helicopters like France’s Tiger or Russia’s Ka-50/52. It has 4 landing barges or 2 medium hovercrafts, which deliver armored vehicles, tanks, and soldiers to shore.