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A French Amphibious Assault Ship for the Russian Navy

MOSCOW, September 19, 2009: The Russian Defense Ministry is negotiating procurement of a Mistral class amphibious assault ship from France. The estimated cost of this ship is 300 - 400 million Euros.

The French Navy received the first Mistral class vessel in December 2005. Sofar two ships have been completed – Mistral (shown above) and Tonnerre, the construction of the third ship was launched in April 2009. Photo: French DGA

The Mistral class ship carries 16 helicopters, four landing barges, and up to 70 vehicles, including 13 main battle tanks. In addition to the crew, the vessel accommodates 450 troops. Supporting contingency operations, Mistral is also equipped with a 69-bed hospital and can also be used as an amphibious command ship.

The Russian navy primarily considers fielding a single vessel. Following the initial trials, 3-4 additional ships of the same class could be considered. These will be jointly constructed by a Russian shipyard. The Russian shipbuilding industry has not attempted construction of a vessel of this scale for some time. The largest ships built by ex-Soviet shipyards were three Kuznetsov class and four Kiev class (STOVL) aircraft carriers, of which only one is currently operational with the Russian Navy.

The French Navy received the first Mistral class vessel in December 2005. Sofar two ships have been completed – Mistral and Tonnerre, the construction of the third ship was launched in April 2009.