Russia, France Ink Mistral Contract in St. Petersburg

Russia and France signed the procurement contract for two Mistral class assault landing ships at 15th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, reports RIA Novosti.

On the Russian side, the document was signed by Director General of Rosoboronexport Anatoly Isaikin in the presence of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev .

As was earlier negotiated, two Mistral class ships will be constructed at DCNS shipyards in France with participation of United Shipbuilding Corporation (Russia). Other two analogous ships will be built in Russia under French license. Earlier on this day Interfax news agency reported referring to a source involved in negotiations that the talks would continue even after contracting. It is planned to sign an array of supplementary agreements specifying details such as technology transfer, delivery of disputable equipment, and build-in Russian arms.

Reference

Mistral class assault landing ship has full displacement of 21,300 tons; max speed is 19 knots; overall length is 199 meters; beam is 32 meters; draft is 6.3 meters. Mistral ship is capable to accommodate up to 450 marines and 59 land vehicles (including 13 tanks). To carry out landing operation, the ship is equipped with 16 heavy helicopters (or 30 light ones) and 4 landing boats (or 2 fast-speed air-cushion vessels). Fuel range at 15 knots is about 20,000 miles. The crew contains 160 men including 20 officers.