Tug-of-war in Mistral helicarrier deal
Published 03 October, 2009, 11:16
Edited 09 February, 2010, 21:52
Russia’s Defense Ministry is exclusively negotiating the purchase of a large helicopter carrier – the French Mistral.
At the same time, the proposed two billion dollar deal has raised many questions among the country's military analysts. Many of them question the possible acquisition, saying the money could instead be invested in Russia's arms industry.
The Mistral is a state of the art helicopter carrier. Commissioned in 2005, it is the pride of the French Navy. The ship can carry up to 16 heavy helicopters plus two hovercrafts, and can transport up to 70 vehicles and 13 tanks.
Russia and France have confirmed they are in exclusive talks on the deal.
“There are certain issues still to be resolved between our ministries. But, we can definitely say we are interested in buying not one, but several vessels,” Russia’s Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov has said.
Buying foreign military technology is common practice: not a single country has the capacity to fully satisfy the needs of its military. Not even the US – the world's largest military force, which spends up to a billion dollars a year on foreign technology.
“We can’t produce ships like the Mistral, we don’t have the means to do it,” said Anatoly Tsyganok of the Military Prognosis Centre. “The industry is in crisis, but Russia will benefit from cooperation with France, a NATO country.”
The ship is best used for long-distance trans-oceanic missions – the type of operations Russia does not currently focus much on. Konstantin Makienko of the Russia-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies explains why:
“If Russia had interests in, say, Papua New Guinea or Sri Lanka, then yes, this would be a good buy. But that’s not the case, at least not today.”
The deal could be worth up to $2 billion and would be the largest buy to date. Observers, however, fear this will not be easy for Russia's existing military supplies to take.
“The deal is a blow to Russia’s reputation as a military power. The funds could easily repair a large part of the fleet and increase its efficiency,” says Konstantin Sivkov, a Vice-President at the Geopolitical Problems Academy.
It is still unclear whether France will be given the go-ahead to sell the license for Mistral’s Navigation and Communications system. It is calibrated to work based on NATO protocols.
Meanwhile, the US media have criticized the deal saying Russia is flexing its muscles, while Washington has reviewed its anti-missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.
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