Helicopter Carriers News

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated a large naval base on Saturday 135 km from the border with Libya, flanked by close ally Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Libya's unity president,Egypt says the July 3 base will help it protect strategic and economic interests as well as helping guard against irregular migration as it boosts its naval presence on the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.At the inauguration, two Mistral helicopter carriers…

Australia will join three-way naval exercises involving the United States, Japan and India, in a move that could provoke concern from China, which has criticized similar joint drills in the past.Here are some of the most common questions on the Malabar exercise:What is the Malabar exercise?The Malabar naval exercise began in 1992 as a training event between the United States and India. Japan joined it in 2015, but Australia has not participated since 2007.The exercise was conducted…

The U.S. Navy carrier Ronald Reagan is conducting drills with Japanese warships in seas south of the Korean peninsula, Japan's military said on Friday, in a show of naval power as Pyongyang threatens further nuclear and missile tests. The Reagan strike group will conduct a separate drill with the South Korean Navy in October, the defence ministry said in a statement distributed to South Korean lawmakers on Monday. The 100,000-ton Reagan, which is based in Japan, and its escort ships have been holding drills with Japanese navy vessels since Sept 11 in waters south and west of Japan's main islands, the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force said in a statement.

French industrial group DCNS has delivered LHD (Landing Helicopter Dock) Anwar El Sadat, the second of two helicopter carriers acquired by the Arab Republic of Egypt. The flag transfer ceremony took place September 16, 2016 in the presence of the two Chiefs of Staff of the Egyptian and French navies, Admiral Rabie and Admiral Prazuck, the chairman and CEO of DCNS, Hervé Guillou, and the president of STX France, Laurent Castaing, together with senior French and Egyptian officials.

GE's Marine Solutions announced it will provide IHI, Tokyo, Japan, with two LM2500 aeroderivative marine gas turbines for the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force's (JMSDF) new 8,200-ton class Aegis destroyer. “GE's LM family of gas turbines are already part of numerous JMSDF ships, most recently the Izumo-class DDH helicopter carriers and 5,000-ton class destroyer programs,” said Brien Bolsinger, Vice President, Marine Operations, GE, Evendale, Ohio. “By using our marine gas turbines, the JMSDF benefits from long term support, operational efficiency and commonality within their fleet.

France has agreed to sell two Mistral helicopter carriers to Egypt for 950 million euros ($1.06 billion) after their sale to Russia was canceled in August, French officials said on Wednesday. Cairo has sought to boost its military power in the face of a two-year insurgency based across the Suez Canal in the Sinai peninsula and fears the conflict in neighbouring Libya could spill over. Egypt's allies are also keen to burnish its image in a region beset by turmoil. "We unwound the contract we had with Russia, on good terms, respectful of Russia and not suffering any penalty for France," Hollande told reporters on his arrival at an EU summit in Brussels.

French President Francois Hollande and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi have agreed on the purchase by Egypt of the two French Mistral helicopter carriers whose planned sale to Russia was cancelled. "They agreed on the principle and the terms of the acquisition by Egypt of the two" Mistral warships, Hollande's office said in a statement on Wednesday. France, whose navy already operates three of the Mistral helicopter carriers, has no use for the ships, whose sale to Russia was scrapped due to the Ukraine crisis. Reporting by James Regan

Two Mistrals were originally destined for Russia. France is in talks to sell two Mistral helicopter carriers to Egypt after their sale to Russia was cancelled earlier this month, two sources close to the matter said on Wednesday. Cairo has sought to boost its military power in the face of a two-year-old insurgency based across the Suez Canal in the Sinai peninsula and fears the crisis in neighbouring Libya could spill over. Egypt's allies are also keen to burnish its image in a region beset by turmoil. A sale would also fit into France's recent strategy of favouring predominantly Sunni Arab nations, both politically and commercially, over their Shi'ite rival Iran.

About 10 countries, including Egypt, are interested in buying two French helicopter carriers whose planned sale to Russia has been cancelled due to the Ukraine crisis, a source familiar with the situation said. A second source, a French diplomatic source, said that other countries interested include Brazil, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Canada, which could be the most suitable candidate for the ships because they were designed for cold waters. France, whose navy already operates three of the Mistral helicopter carrier warships, has no use for the two ships and will have to pay Russia nearly 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) for cancelling the contract. The first source also said that Egypt is negotiating the possible exercise of its option to buy two Gowind corvettes.

While France is seeking a way to cancel its contract to deliver two helicopter carriers to the Russian navy, Russia wants 1.163 billion euros ($1.32 billion) from France in compensation for nixing the deal. President Francois Hollande is under pressure from Western allies to scrap the deal because of Moscow’s role in the Ukraine crisis. France has offered Russia its terms to scrap a contentious contract to supply two warships that was suspended due to the Ukraine crisis, but Moscow judged the sum as unacceptable. According to the Russian daily, Kommersant, Paris is offering around 785 million euros. The Kremlin says its position is clear: either France stumps up the full compensation, or it hands over the warships.

Russia and France are close to reaching an agreement for Paris to cancel a frozen contract on the sale of Mistral helicopter carriers and reimburse Moscow, a Russian source close to talks indicated on Friday. France suspended the delivery of the warships last year after the European Union decided to impose sanctions on Russia over the separatist conflict in neighbouring Ukraine. French President Francois Hollande, who was holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Friday, suggested on Wednesday that Paris could cancel the contract and reimburse Moscow. Putin had said the previous week that Moscow would not impose penalties on France over the 1.2 billion euro ($1.29 billion) deal if all costs incurred by Russia were reimbursed.

Russia will take France to court within six months over its failure to deliver the first of two Mistral-class warships to the Russian navy, the Russian Defense Minister has said. “There is a contract, so everything must be strictly complied with,” Sergei Shoigu said. The dates there are split into three parts. The first one is in January, and it has already been done. It was an explanation why [the contract has not been fulfilled]. The other dates are three and six months, he added. The Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation issued a warning notice to France on Jan. 13 after the delivery of the Vladivostok, scheduled to be delivered in late 2014, and the Sevastopol, set to be handed over in 2015, failed to materialize.

French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that a ceasefire and a political settlement in Ukraine were conditions for France to deliver a warship it has built for Russia. Hollande told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO summit that the contract to supply two Mistral-class helicopter carriers was neither cancelled nor suspended, but the conditions for delivering the first ship - due in October - were not ripe. "What are the conditions? A ceasefire and a political settlement," he said. If there were further complications, delivery would be delayed but the contract would not be suspended, he added. France has come under strong public pressure from the United States and European partners to scrap the deal, signed under former President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2011.

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday questioned France's plan to sell Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, saying fulfilling such an order would be unthinkable in Britain after the downing of the Malaysian Airlines plane in Ukraine. When asked about France's plan to press ahead with a 1.2 billion-euro ($1.66 billion) contract to sell the ships to Russia, Cameron said: "Frankly in this country it would be unthinkable to fulfil an order like the one outstanding that the French have. "But we need to put the pressure on with all our partners to say that we cannot go on doing business as usual with a country when it is behaving in this way." (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and William James; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Poland's foreign minister urged France on Tuesday to cancel a 1.2 billion euro ($1.66 billion) contract to sell Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, saying these would be used to threaten east European nations. The United States and some European partners have been urging Paris to reconsider its supply of high-tech military hardware to Moscow following Russian action in Ukraine, including its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in March. Asked if France should deliver the two vessels, Radoslaw Sikorski told Le Monde newspaper: "No, because Russian generals have already said what these ships will be used for: to threaten Russia's neighbors in the Black Sea and that means Europe's partners.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Monday on a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the commander of Russian paratroopers as well as two confiscated Crimean energy companies, raising pressure on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine. Putin's first deputy chief of staff, Vyacheslav Volodin, and Vladimir Shamanov, the commander of Russian airborne troops that took part in Russia's occupation ofUkraine's Crimea region in March, were among 13 people added to the EU's sanctions list. Volodin, a wealthy former lawyer and veteran political strategist, is already on the U.S. sanctions list. The latest additions bring to 61 the number of Russians and Ukrainians the EU has targeted with asset freezes and visa bans.

The Russian navy will add three new large landing ships next year to the 19 already in service, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying on Tuesday. The Russian navy is under scrutiny during a widening international crisis over Crimea, a region with an ethnic Russian majority in Ukraine which Moscow has effectively wrestled from Kiev in recent days, causing outrage in the West. President Vladimir Putin has ordered troops involved in a military exercise in central and western Ukraine back to base, a move that appeared intended to help ease tension. But the timing of Shoigu's comments signalled Moscow was still flexing its muscles, underlining Moscow's commitment to building up its armed forces in coming years. Russia's Black Sea Fleet has a base in Crimea.

The signature of a contract for two Mistral class helicopter carriers (LHDs), and associated services, between DCNS and the Russian defence export agency Rosoboronexport took place in St. Petersburg on June 17, 2011. STX France will undertake the construction of the ships at its Saint-Nazaire shipyard under a subcontract with DCNS. The Russian shipbuilder OSK will provide part of the hull of both ships. The first ship will be delivered to Russia in 2014 and the second LHD will be delivered in 2015. The vessels will have a length of 199 meters, a displacement of 22,000 tons and a speed in excess of 18 knots. Previously, STX France and DCNS have built three Mistral class LHDs for the French Navy. Mistral and Tonnerre were delivered to the French Navy in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Dockwise Ltd. announces that its subsidiary Dockwise Shipping has entered into contracts with the Spanish naval shipyard Navantia for the transport of two Canberra-class amphibious helicopter carriers (LHD) and with the Russian naval shipyard Zvezda for the transport of two nuclear powered submarines. Navantia, located in Ferrol, Spain, a naval shipyard, is building the two LHD's for the Australian Navy. The hull of the vessels and its outfitting will, to a large extend be completed by the Spanish yard. The final construction, outfitting and commissioning will be performed by Australian contractors. In this arrangement the transport to Melbourne on the deck of a semi submersible transport vessel is the preferred option.