Together with the Mistrals, Russia will get the technology
The epic, which lasted for several years, connected with the acquisition by Russia of powerful helicopter carriers from France, ended with the signing of a contract and the stormy disputes of both opponents and allies of this large-scale action over the past decades. Ambiguous judgments about the acquisition were expressed not only abroad, but also in Russian government and public circles.
The price of the transaction amounted to no less than 1,2 billion Euros. It is characteristic that the first mention of the upcoming purchase appeared in the distant 2009 year. In Russia, the main disappointment with the upcoming purchase was expressed by the Chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Defense Industry Workers (OBORONPROF) Andrei Chekmenev. The main reason was that Russia will lose a significant number of jobs. After all, such a powerful helicopter carrier could be built by Russia itself, but the well-known system of financing the defense complex would not lead to the effective construction of a powerful helicopter carrier. The process itself would take more than one year, and maybe even decades.
The country's defense power is a priority for our Supreme Commander Dmitry Medvedev. It is clear that no one is going to attack Russia in the foreseeable future, but the weak technical base of our Armed Forces can easily knock out the entire defense power of the country. In the event, God forbid, there will be nothing to oppose an unforeseen local war.
Other Russian analysts tend to think that in the near future our Russian army will become very dependent on foreign arms supplies, thereby significantly losing its security. Competition in the armament market of our planet in recent years has become fierce. So, for example, several years ago Sweden wanted to buy from Russia Tanks BMP, but enterprising Americans crossed the road and offered the Swedes the supply of their tanks, and for free, if only they would not take from Russia. Another curiosity is the purchase by the Americans from Russia of Mi-17 helicopters for the young Afghan army, thereby Americans emphasize their importance on the world stage.
Americans were not surprised by the purchase, but very unfriendly responded to France. The NATO ally decisively ignored the appeal of the US Congress, which said that the upcoming sale of the Mistral will be a threat to the military bloc in the near future. The US Congress reminded France that in recent years Russia has taken a hostile course towards the United States, the countries of Eastern Europe and its former Federal Republics, in particular to Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine. American congressmen consider economic cyber attacks, such as gas and others, on the countries of the near abroad on the part of Russia to be the main argument against the sale of Mistral to France.
Although the official White House did not comment on the sale of Russian helicopter carriers, the statement says that NATO allies stop all economic cooperation in the military sphere with Russia.
The economic forum in St. Petersburg brought a pleasant surprise for the Armed Forces of Russia. In 2014, the first helicopter carrier will be commissioned, and in 2015, the second one. Mistrals will be based in the Far East, defending the Kuriles. But the home base will be Vladivostok. Now a document is being prepared on the work related to the construction of the appropriate infrastructure for helicopter carriers. But the purchase of a helicopter carrier must be accompanied by the acquisition of other small vessels that will serve such a colossus on water and on land. The grouping of troops of the Far Eastern region with the acquisition of a helicopter carrier will be mobile and fully functional in the region.
Together with the ships of Russia will get also fighting technologies. So, Russia received the source codes of the corresponding software on combat information management systems and communication systems. Mistral construction will be carried out in Saint-Nazare (France), and 40% of construction (24 special unit) will be carried out in Russia and then shipped to France. In the construction will take the company of Denmark, Germany and Finland. The Russian side considers this deal to be profitable also because in the case of repairing spare parts it will be easy to order from France and not depend on the United States, as happened with Venezuela at the time. At one time, this country purchased a number of weapons from the United States, and when the conflict between the two countries reached its climax, the Americans stopped supplying components to Venezuela, and the country ended up with the US weaponslike an old man at the broken trough.
The rapprochement with France will lead to closer cooperation with this country in the supply of other military equipment, so, projects are being prepared for the procurement of frigates, destroyers and corvettes, which will be in addition to the helicopter carriers. The Pacific Fleet will be equipped with high-tech military equipment, which has no analogue in Russia yet. And again, the purchase of new weapons has caused fierce disputes in Russian military circles. The heads of military defense complexes claim that our country can still produce equipment similar to the French, but they are well aware that the Russian financial machine and disorder may delay the creation of combat vehicles for many years.
It is planned that the new combat vehicles will at first begin to perform not only purely military and defense functions. So, it is planned to attract helicopter carriers and its flotilla to address the humanitarian issues of the region. The helicopter carrier will solve both the peacekeeping and humanitarian tasks of its region.
The organizers of the purchase convinced opponents of the purchase of helicopter carriers in Russia by the fact that the SENIT-9 tactical information system available on the Mistral has no analogues in the world, and its creation in Russia in the near future is not foreseen, and solving combat tasks without this system is impossible at the current stage rearmament of the Russian Armed Forces. It remains only to hope that this threatening colossus will never be used for military purposes and that Mistral’s Russian counterparts will take over sooner or later.
Information