Russian Navy Chief Attends Mistral Lay-Down Ceremony in France

MOSCOW, February 1 (RIA Novosti) – The Commander of the Russian Navy, Admiral Viktor Chirkov, will attend an official keel laying ceremony on Friday for the first Mistral-class amphibious assault ship being built at a French shipyard for Russia.

Construction of the warship, named Vladivostok, began last year at the STX shipyard in St. Nazaire, after Russia made an advance payment as part of the 1.2-billion euro deal for two French-built Mistral vessels, which was signed in June 2011.

The ceremony on Friday involves the placement of the first bow section into a dry dock. The Russian Embassy in France has confirmed the event is taking place but said it would be off-limits to the press.

Speaking ahead of the ceremony, a high-ranking source in Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) told RIA Novosti that Russia had built 30 small sections for the stern of the ship. They will be sent to France in the near future.

The Vladivostok is due for delivery in 2014, while the second Mistral for Russia, the Sevastopol, is expected to enter service with the Russian Navy in 2015.

Meanwhile, Russia has put back plans to build two additional Mistral class ships under French license to 2016, citing the need to assess the ships’ performance, role and status as part of the Russian Navy.

The Mistral deal came under fire from senior Russian officials last month, following the dismissal of former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov late last year, who actively lobbied for their purchase.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who has responsibility for the arms industry, said the ships were unsuitable for Russia as they were incapable of operating in cold weather conditions, while the Military-Industrial Commission’s Deputy Head Ivan Kharchenko said the Mistral deal was “absurd,” as it had inflicted harm on the Russian shipbuilding industry.

A Mistral-class ship is capable of carrying 16 helicopters, four landing vessels, 70 armored vehicles, and 450 troops.

The French-built ships are expected to be assigned to Russia’s Pacific Fleet.

http://en.rian.ru/military_news/20130201/179167480/Russian-Navy-Chief-Attends-Mistral-Lay-Down-Ceremony-in-France.html

The Armada de la Republica Argentina commissions it’s newest submarine – ARA Santísima Trinidad🙂

You laugh but the North Koreans have mastered the technology of stealth warships!!!! You can only see THE chinese warships on the pics!!!! :diablo:

Nothing is impossible. Makes for a nice helicopter support / air assault ship for countries w/o STOVL aviation. Depending on how delivery of Vikramaditya and IAC proceed, PdA could be a stopgap-ship, allowing the few remaining SHARs to keep flying and the training of pilots for helicopters to operate from future (planned) Multi-Role Support Vessel (LHD).

According to some spanish colleagues, it really seems the PdA will be scrapped.

Unless some country shows interest in her and she will be OFFERED, the purchasing country just having to spend the costs of refitting at Navantia(!!!!)

Hello ,Chile?????

Thailand should buy it! Then they would have two carriers just for show.

Apparently it will not be up for sale. The original text states “desmantelamento”, which means scrapping, and not decomissioning as the google translated.

Another part also states “navigation instruments are being removed”

Er…

That part says its a tourist attraction?.

and Varyag is a Casino in Macau. What’s your point? :diablo:

Russia Drops Plans to Build Two Mistral Class Ships – Paper

(Source: RIA Novosti; published Dec. 21, 2012)

MOSCOW — The Russian Defense Ministry has decided to abandon plans for construction of two Mistral class amphibious assault ships under the French license in Russia, business daily Vedomosti said on Friday citing a government source.

Russia and France signed a $1.2-billion contract for two French-built Mistral class ships, including the transfer of sensitive technology, in June 2011.

The first ship, the Vladivostok, is being built at a DCNS shipyard in Saint-Nazaire and should be delivered in 2014, while the second, the Sevastopol, is scheduled for delivery in 2015.

Two more ships were expected to be 80% built in Russia, 20% in France.

However, Russian shipbuilders and many navy experts have always been skeptical about the military necessity to deploy four ships of this class with the Russian Navy, the paper said.

In addition, the domestic construction of the two ships would cost Russia approximately the same amount of money as the French contract, while their future upkeep would lay a heavy burden on the defense budget, according to defense industry sources.

The decision has been made following the recent reshuffle in the Russian top military brass which saw the dismissal of Anatoly Serdyukov from the post of defense minister and his replacement by former emergencies minister Sergei Shoigu, who immediately took the course on streamlining defense expenditures.

A Mistral-class ship is capable of carrying 16 helicopters, four landing vessels, 70 armored vehicles, and 450 personnel.

The French-built ships are expected to be assigned to Russia’s Pacific Fleet.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the Vedomosti report.

-ends-

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/141234/russia-said-to-drop-plans-to-build-mistral-ships.html