What has been talked about over the past years has come true. Russia still buys Mistral helicopter carriers from France, the deal is estimated at 1.37 billion euros. This is not the first deal of Russia in the line of military-technical cooperation with France, Russia has previously purchased tank sights and various avionics from this country, now the issue of purchasing a separate batch of FELIN soldiers' equipment kits for the GRU special forces units is being discussed. But it was the deal on the acquisition of two Mistral helicopter carriers that became the largest in the entire history of modern Russia.
The Mistral is a large warship with a displacement of 21,000 tons and a length of 210 meters. The vessel is capable of speeds of over 18 knots (about 35 km / h), the cruising range is 37 thousand km. The helicopter carrier is capable of taking on board 16 heavy helicopters. The total number of the ship's crew, including the helicopter crew, is 390 people. In addition, the landing helicopter carrier is capable of taking on board up to 900 soldiers, 40 armored vehicles or 70 vehicles.
Currently, disputes over the purchase of these ships from France are gaining momentum, the opinions of military experts are divided, and more and more skeptics are heard. So, the captain of the 1st rank, the first vice-president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, Konstantin Sivkov, sharply criticized such a purchase. So that our readers are not completely bored, we will provide not just the expert's comments, but also supplement them with our own data, which are at variance with his data and are widely available (hereinafter in italics).
What goals can Mistral fulfill in Russia?
In the structure of the Russian Navy, there are simply no tasks that this ship could solve. Each ship must be integrated into the system of the armed forces, in particular the fleet, and carry out quite specific tasks, which is why there is no need for the Mistral.
This ship is intended primarily for expeditionary operations with the transfer of troops over long distances. The French need this ship, they have their own interests in the same tropical Africa. These ships were built with an eye to supporting the country's colonial policy in third world countries.
And here the question arises, what colonies is Russia going to seize? Perhaps landings in Latin America? The only direction in Russia where this ship could be used is the Georgian one. But such attention from small Georgia is clearly excessive. In the event of a possible conflict with this small Caucasian country, this large and weakly armed ship is designed to transfer troops over 1000 km. does not fit in the best way.
Today the Black Sea Fleet already has 6 landing ships of projects 775 and 1171, which would have coped with their task quite well. Someone thinks that the advantage of the Mistral is that it can carry 16 helicopters on board, but the anti-submarine ships of the Moskva and Leningrad projects could carry 25 helicopters each.
Landing of the Ka-52 helicopter on the Mistral deck
At the moment, the fleet does not have the necessary infrastructure to service such ships, therefore it will have to be created from scratch, which will require huge new expenditures of money.
By purchasing French ships, we are sending an appropriate signal to our former partners in military-technical cooperation that Russia has recognized the superiority of its competitor in the arms market, France. Therefore, they may begin to gravitate not to ours, but to French weapons, and this ship will perform the function of a "Trojan horse" for the country's military-industrial complex.
What innovations does Mistral bring?
In the opinion of Konstantin Sivkov, the ship has one innovation - the aviation fuel supply pipeline passes in the galley area! This thing is innovative, but not necessarily useful. In fact, the ship's designers initially "programmed" it to start fires.
Buying ships of the Mistral class, we find ourselves technologically tied to Western countries. A recent example of such an anchor is Venezuela. Until recently, this country bought American F-16 fighters. After relations between the countries deteriorated, Washington simply stopped supplying aviation components to the country, and the fighters quickly fell into disrepair.
An even more illustrative example is Operation Desert Storm in 1991, when one of the main reasons for Sadam's defeat was the fact that Iraq was armed with a large number of French and American air defense systems Crotal, Hawk, Roland, which before the start of the operation were destroyed by a team from satellites. Modern military equipment is created taking into account the installation of special programs in it, thanks to which the country of origin, if necessary, is able to disable it.
How Mistral is rated in the world
This ship is mostly rated negatively. This is how American experts assess it. Until now, such "troughs" have not been purchased by any country in the world except Russia, the issue was considered by Australia, but in the end they refused to buy. Last but not least, they refused to buy this ship due to its low combat capabilities.
Or take the ship's air defense system - it is very weak. In fact, it consists of only two anti-aircraft guns, which are not capable of hitting even a single air target.
Mistral-class ships are very cumbersome and easily hit, not only by aircraft, but also by coastal forces and other enemy ships. Taking into account the increased fire hazard, getting 1-2 bombs or shells into the ship can be fatal for a significant part of its landing force.
The installation of our naval air defense systems is problematic due to the layout of the ship, moreover, the installation of more advanced systems will reduce the ship's payload. There is one more significant point, the ship was originally designed for operation in warm tropical waters, but we have completely different climatic conditions, which will cause increased difficulties in operation and increase wear and tear.
Does Russia know how to build "modern" ships
Recently, everyone has been trying to convince us that Russia is not able to produce modern ships - this is a lie. Russia is able to build first-class ships and even heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers. For some reason, similar products are produced for India and China, the same aircraft-carrying cruiser "Admiral Gorshkov" for Delhi.
However, our military "reformers" believe that Russia is not in a position to produce a simpler Mistral-class ship. According to the calculations of our shipbuilders, the construction of such a ship in Russia would cost 150 million euros, and not 1.37 billion for two ships. Thus, we are investing huge amounts of money to support not our own, but someone else's ship industry, as a result, not ours, but French workers will be provided with jobs. All this suggests that corruption schemes play an important role in such a purchase of weapons.
