Contract
for building of third and fourth Mistral-class landing ships will be
signed in 2012, said Roman Trotsenko, the president of United Shipbuilding
Corporation (USC).
"The arms procurement order includes construction of third and
fourth Mistral-class assault landing ships for Russian defense ministry",
he said. "It is planned to sign the contract in 2012. We consider
the contract will be concluded, otherwise it would be no point to purchase
technology", Trotsenko added.
According to the head of USC, first and second Mistral-class helicopter
carriers will be half-built in St. Petersburg and then sent to France
for assemblage. "Third and fourth Mistrals will be fully constructed
in Russia", reports ITAR-TASS citing Trotsenko.
|
On 24 December 2010,
after eight months of talks, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved
the purchase of two ships of the Mistral class (and an option for two
more) from France for €1,37 billion (€720 millions for the 1st
ship; €650 millions for the second). The final agreement between
Russia and France has been signed on 25 January 2011.The first Mistral-class
ship is expected to be built within 36 months after Russia made an advance
payment in January 2011.
A second ship will be built within 48 months. At the initial stage, the
consortium provides for the joint construction of two ships of this type
with the subsequent production of two more. Russia will fulfill 20% of
the required work during construction of the first Mistral class ship
in the STX shipyards of Saint-Nazaire, France. The third and fourth ships
will be constructed in St. Petersburg. Russia plans to build new shipyards
on Kotlin Island near St. Petersburg. These will be used to construct
Mistral class ships and other large civil and military vessels in the
future. |
