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Russia To Buy *Used* Mistral Helicopter Carriers From Egypt
New cars are often offered at high fixed list prices set by the manufacturer. A trick car dealers use to circumvent such fixed list prices and to sell more cars is to "sell" the new car for a day or two to some strawmen. These cars are marketed as "demonstrator" or per-registrated cars. The "used car" is handed back to the dealer who sells it to the originally intended buyer for a price lower than the manufacturer's list price.
A somewhat similar trick, though not involving pricing, seems to be in the making for a set of interesting war ships:
France has agreed to sell two Mistral helicopter carriers to Egypt, which were originally ordered by Russia.
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The Mistrals contract, worth €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion), was signed by France’s DCNS/STX and Russia’s Rosoboronexport in 2011. The contract specified that two French helicopter carriers would be delivered to Russia, the first in 2014 and the second in 2015. Russia was to partly manufacture the vessel hulls and provide its own military electronic equipment for the warships.
However, the French government decided not to hand the vessels over to Moscow after it came under intense political pressure from the US and its European allies following Crimea’s reunification with Russia and the outbreak of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Egypt has little use for these quite expensive and difficult to operate helicopter carriers. I am not aware of any sensible scenario in which Egypt could put them to good use. The likely story behind this deal is thus different.
Egypt will buy these two ships probably using a credit line forwarded by Russia. Russian specialists will out fit them with Russian weapon systems. Then, in a year or two, Egypt will offer the "used helicopter carriers" to Russia. The inevitable bribes and other incentives of this transaction will be used as a well deserved bonus for the Egyptian leadership.
I have no doubt that the French, who never wanted to cancel the original Russian deal, has been in on this scheme from the very beginning.
The only question now is: What is Washington gonna do about it?
@b
The likely story behind this deal is thus different.
b might have its own info sources about the Mistrals going from France to Egypt, to be sold to Russia later, as there is nothing in the link provided to substantiate the probability of such transaction.
According to the Defense Industry Daily , Russia intended to dismantle sensitive equipment from the Mistrals, if they were sold to countries other than India or Egypt.
September 15/15: With Egypt appearing to lead the pack of prospective buyers for the two French state-owned Mistral LHDs, the Russian government has reportedly indicated that if the North African state were to acquire the two ships then the sensitive Russian equipment installed on them could remain in place, after stating earlier this month that this equipment would be removed. The same reportedly goes for India, with both countries established markets for Russian military hardware…
Their acquisition by Egypt means the sensitive equipment (ship-borne combat information and control systems, systems controlling missile fire, artillery complexes and the helicopter landing control module) can stay in exchange, and I speculate here, for an in-depth study by the Russians of the Mistrals design and construction.
Not surprisingly, the Saudis seem to be the mastermind behind the whole deal, using al-Sisi as a front puppet,
“Egypt and Saudi Arabia are desperate to buy two Mistrals,” an unnamed official French source told France’s leading daily, Le Monde. “King Salman of Saudi Arabia wants to build a fleet in Egypt which could project regional power in the Red Sea and Mediterranean,” said the source. “Some countries in the region have displayed a marked interest in the Mistrals with the aim of establishing a [regional] maritime force.”
The report of Egyptian and Saudi interest in acquiring the two French-made warships came a day after French President François Hollande attended a ceremony marking the inauguration of a major Suez Canal extension in the Egyptian port city of Ismailia Thursday.
Speaking to reporters in Ismailia, Hollande said France would have “no difficulty” finding buyers for the Mistrals originally bound for Russia.
out of an ambition to project “a joint Arab force” in the region. The financing for Egypt’s purchase, according to the Defense Industry Daily quoting French 24, might have come from the Saudis, not the Russians.
…With reports indicating that Saudi Arabia may finance the acquisition of the vessels for Egypt, in order to leverage the country’s navy as a regional proxy, the Egyptians have recently purchased a number of French naval vessels, including a FREMM frigate and Gowind corvettes.
If all this info is reliable, and the purpose of the purchase is intended as a projection of Saudi-Egypt force in the region, Egypt will have no intentions to “sell” the Mistrals to Russia any time soon. After all, the Saudis call the shots in Egypt, not the Russians.
On the other hand, there is a point of pride for the Russians (and a powerful mil industry), who by now have already advanced designs on bigger and better LHDs
As for what Washington is going to do about it, they will be very happy their minions got the Mistrals, and not the Russians.
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Sep 23 2015 16:53 utc | 6
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