Tag: Mistral

France, Russia sink Mistral

Talks between Russia and France concerning the future of the Mistral contract have ended. The contract will be terminated in the near future, a top Russian official has stated.

Paris and Moscow have agreed on and amount of the penalty France will have to pay Russia for not delivering the Mistral helicopter carriers, and the date on which it must be paid, thus bringing the negotiations to conclusion. The contract will be cancelled shortly, Vladimir Kozhin, the Assistant to the President for military and technical cooperation, told RIA Novosti.

“The talks have already ended. Everything is settled – both the date and the amount of penalty. I hope that the agreement concerning the cancellation of the contract will be signed in the nearest future. Then the sum that France will pay Russia will be officially announced,” Kozhin said.

It was reported earlier that Russia and France would settle on the amount of penalty before July 10.

“The penalty amount is only predefined, as this decision has yet to be approved by the governments of the two countries,” a Russian government source told RIA Novosti.

India scraps French Rafale deal

India has scrapped a deal with France to buy 126 Rafale medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), after three years of negotiations, due to the high cost of the project.

India has announced that a deal to buy 126 Rafale medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) from French manufacturer Dassault Aviation is “effectively dead”.

The reason is the announced high cost of the overall project, according to the country’s online newspaper Business Standard.

The global tender for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) was the first time the Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD) had awarded a contract based on life cycle costing (LCC). This meant the winner of the tender would not be the fighter with the cheapest purchase price; instead the chosen fighter would be the one that was the cheapest to buy, fly, maintain and overhaul over its 30-40 year service life.

As per the original tender, eighteen of the 126 planes were supposed to be purchased directly from Dassault, while Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was due to manufacture the other 108 under license at a to-be-built facility in the city of Bangalore.

Dassault Aviation has refused to take full responsibility for these 108 fighters to be manufactured in India, which automatically increased the overall cost of the whole project.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has recently said that Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters, which had been built by Hindustan Aeronautics at its Nashik plant, could be substituted for them, according to the website IndiaSpend.

The Sukhoi-30 MKI is currently India’s most advanced fighter and forms the backbone of its air force. It’s also half the current cost of a Rafale.

The Indian Air Force first signed a deal with the Russian government to purchase eight air defense Su-30K and 32 multi-role Su-30 MK aircraft in 1996. IAF bought an additional 10 Su-30 MKs in December 1998.

Meanwhile former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said his country should deliver the Mistral class helicopter carriers to Russia.

Dumas has urged the authorities to give the Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia under the existing contract and called the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by his country a gross mistake.

According to Russian experts, Paris could face penalties as high as $10 billion if it fails to fulfill its contractual obligations over the Mistral order.

Source: Sputnik News

Hi-tech gear stolen from Mistral

Electronic equipment, including hard drives and a device operating the helicopter carrier’s communications system, has been stolen off the Mistral ship built for Russia in the French port of Saint-Nazaire.

An investigation into the case of the missing equipment has been launched, French media reported. “Sensitive material” could allegedly be stolen from one of the amphibious-assault vessels, constructed by the French in a multi-million dollar deal with Moscow.

The items, which were announced missing on November 25, could have been stolen a week prior to that date, the prosecutor’s office of the French city of Rennes reported.

According to AFP, two computer hard drives, a motherboard, and a graphics card – as well as a device with a program operating the carrier’s communications system – have disappeared from the ship.

All the equipment was installed by French military electronics firm Thales, and could only be operated on the helicopter carrier.

A spokesman for French shipbuilder DCNS, Emmanuel Godez, confirmed the theft to TASS news agency, but said the unique articles – which he refused to name – did not contain any secret or sensitive data.

French ship builders STX, who are in charge of the Russian-ordered Mistral ship’s construction, also confirmed that some items went missing. The company said a relevant statement had been submitted by the corporation to French police.

According to Le Point magazine, a preliminary investigation did not find any evidence of a break-in. Russians are reportedly not suspected to be behind the theft, a spokesperson from France’s Defense Ministry said.

US sinks France as military competitor

France has lost it’s sovereignty, as Hollande has made a decision that will be the nail in his own political coffin.

Unfortunately Hollande’s coffin will also be the demise of many working class French citizens, who will lose their livelihood from the imminent dismantling of France’s military industry.

Instead of building their own weapons, France can now buy US made weapons. The US military industrial complex has also removed a competitor in the weapons space.

I guess Ukraine is much more important to French President Hollande than French jobs and industry.

“The President of the Republic believes that the current situation in the east of Ukraine still does not allow the transfer of the first Russian Mistral-type ships to Russia,” a statement from the Elysée Palace said.

In this regard, Francois Hollande felt it necessary to postpone the new order to study the request for permission to supply Russia with the first Mistral vessel, the communique informed.

CNBC reports:

France suspended the planned delivery of a warship to Russia on Tuesday, after months of growing speculation about what would be the biggest arms sale ever by a NATO country to the Kremlin.

The French president’s office announced the suspension “until further notice” after growing pressure from allies to suspend the sale because of tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The first of the two ships, the Vladivostok, is docked at the French port city of Saint Nazaire, where about 400 Russian sailors have spent months training aboard the vessel.

The second ship, named the Sevastopol, after a port in the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula, was slated for delivery next year and recently arrived at the Saint Nazaire docks for finishing touches.

Tuesday’s statement, like a previous suspension of the delivery, stopped short of cancelling the deal, suggesting the French government is reluctant give up on a contract worth more than 1 billion euros and thousands of jobs at a time of an economic slump in France.

The Vladivostok can carry 700 troops, 16 helicopter gunships, and up to 50 armored vehicles.

Analysts have said the warships would give Russia an enhanced ability to move large numbers of troops and equipment, but were not game-changers for Moscow’s military.

Russia’s deputy defense minister told RIA Novosti news agency Tuesday that Moscow was not planning to take any immediate action against France for delaying the deal.

“We are satisfied, it is the French who are not satisfied, and we are going to patiently wait,” said Yury Brosiov. “Everything is spelled out in the contract, and we are going to act in accord to the contract like all civilized people.”

There is no way to sugar coat this… Hollande has fully exposed himself as a very weak puppy dog to American policy.

The repercussions to France for this poorly taken decision will be far reaching and devastating.

Working class people will lose jobs and an entire military and shipbuilding industry will be ruined for decades to come.

No country will do business with a France that does not honor its contractual obligations.

Source: Red Pill Times

Mistral mix-up continues

France hasn’t yet fixed a date for delivery of the first of two Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia (scheduled for November 14), the French defense minister said. If France doesn’t deliver due to US and NATO pressure, it will have to pay a huge forfeit.

“No delivery date can be fixed at this stage,” Jean-Yves Le Drian, the country’s defense minister told the National Assembly, the lower house of France’s Parliament.

“The president of the Republic has said that a definitive decision will come at the right moment, taking into account all the responsibilities that come with this decision, which is not a simple one,” he added.

On Thursday, reports emerged that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin will not attend the ceremony where France hands over the first Mistral ship to Russia at the Saint-Nazaire shipyards. On October 29, he said that Moscow had received an invitation to take delivery.

DCNS, a French industrial group specializing in naval defense and energy, sent the invitations to the ceremony of the ship delivery scheduled November 14, France’s Le Nouvel Observateur magazine wrote on Wednesday. However, the event was canceled.

The outlet managed to take a screenshot of the letter which was sent to a French official.

“When I opened my mail, I fell off my chair,” the official told the magazine on condition of anonymity.

The chief of DCNS would not confirm whether this letter, signed by the export manager, was authentic. The official line is that these invitations were issued by mistake and the project manager was subsequently fired, RT reported.

France prepares handover of Mistral

France’s STX shipyard has placed four landing craft in the well dock of the Vladivostok helicopter carrier that is to be sent to Russia, the company said at the Euronaval 2014 exhibition on Friday.

Under the contract with Russia’s arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, all the four landing boats are in Saint-Nazaire and will be handed over to Russia together with the Mistral-class helicopter carrier, the Vladivostok.

“We have performed the contract, all the four landing craft are currently in the well dock of the Vladivostok and will go to Russia,” a representative of the French company told TASS.

The landing boats of CTM NG type have a full load displacement of 65 tons, a speed of 13.4 knots, a cruising endurance of 500 nautical miles, and are equipped with three diesel engines with the total power of 1,500 kW.

The first Mistral-class helicopter carrier Vladivostok is due to be delivered to Russia within deadlines fully under the contract, a high-ranking representative of Russia’s delegation at the Euronaval exhibition said on Thursday.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is in charge of Russia’s defense industry, earlier this week announced that the first Mistral helicopter carrier will be handed over to Russia by the French side on November 14.

He said that Rosoboronexport had got an invitation to arrive in Saint-Nazaire for the ceremony of handing over the first Vladivostok Mistral-type helicopter carrier. The French side, however, could not confirm his statement.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Thursday the conditions have not yet been met to deliver Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia.
The €1.12 billion contract for building Mistrals for the Russian Navy was concluded in June 2011.

The first Mistral-class ship, the Vladivostok, is expected to be delivered by late 2014. The second ship, the Sevastopol, is due to arrive next year.

Florian Phillipot, a Vice President of the rightwing National Front party said on Thursday, France should not succumb to pressures from the US in what concerns the delivery of Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia.

As he commented on a statement by Finance Minister Michel Sapin, who said earlier on the same day conditions for the delivery of Mistrals to Russia had not taken shape yet due to concerns over the situation in Ukraine, Phillipot said it’s time Paris got to its feet and stopped taking instructions from the US.

Paris has contractual obligation that must be honored, Phillipot said, adding that trust in and reputation of the country as a reliable supplier of defence equipment is at stake.

On the other hand, it is also a question of finances and Frances is running the risk of a necessity to pay a multi-billion penalty, he said.

Some 360 Russian seamen and 60 instructors are currently getting trained for a handover of the Vladivostok and for the floating of the second Mistral,” Rogozin said.

 

Marine Le Pen: Deliver the Mistral to Russia

Marine Le Pen insists France has contractual obligations to deliver the vessel to Russia and should resist US pressure to break them

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s third-largest party Front National, demanded on Friday that France fulfilled its contract on the delivery of Mistral-class helipcopter carriers to Russia.

“France has taken obligations under the contract on the delivery of vessels to Russia. However, we now see that it has broken its obligation on the US president’s orders,” Le Pen said.

She added that no other country would sign any contracts with France that scraps deals at the last moments on Barack Obama’s orders.

“France should stop being a US lapdog and become a sovereign country free to make its own choice,” Le Pen said.

Russia and France signed a €1.2 billion deal for the delivery of two Mistral-class ships in June 2011. The first vessel, the Vladivostok, was floated out in October 201. The second ship, the Sevastopol, is supposed to be delivered in 2015. France will have to pay Russia a penalty fee if it fails to fulfil the contract.

France backtracks furiously on Mistral

The delivery of first Mistral-class helicopter carrier, built for Russia under the 2011 contract, has not been put off yet, as the statement made earlier on Wednesday reflected personal position of President Francois Hollande, a French diplomatic source said Wednesday.

“From the legal standpoint, nothing has changed; the delivery is due November 1. It is a matter of president’s political stance. The head of state said that in the current circumstances, as of today – and if these circumstances do not change – he would not approve delivery of the Mistral,” the source said.

Hollande’s position remains the same, according to the diplomatic source. Russia has to undertake the steps essential to reach a political solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine to receive the Mistral warships on time.

“The final decision will be made in October following a number of procedures,” the diplomatic source added.

Earlier on Wednesday, the office of President Francois Hollande released a statement, saying that the head of the country concluded that the conditions, under which France could authorize the delivery of the first helicopter carrier are not in place.

Russia and France signed a $1.6 billion deal for two Mistral-class ships in June 2011. The first of these, the Vladivostok, was expected in Russia at the end of this year, with the second, the Sevastopol, due to be completed in 2015.

The completion of the deal was at risk after Western countries imposed sanctions against Russia over its alleged role in the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.

The Mistral vessels are expected to be deployed by Russia’s Pacific Fleet. They are both capable of carrying 16 helicopters, four landing craft, 70 armored vehicles and 450 soldiers.

Source: RIA Novosti

US blackmailing French banks says Putin

Vladimir Putin said that Russia was aware of pressure that the United States puts on France over the deal to build the Mistral warships for Russia and views it as blackmail, RIA reports. “What is being done now with the French banks causes nothing but outrage in Europe and in our country as well,” Putin said at a meeting with Russian ambassadors and permanent envoys.

“We are aware of the pressure that our American partners exert on France with a purpose of not to deliver the Mistral warships to Russia. And we know even that the United States hinted that if the French do not deliver the Mistrals, then sanctions will gradually be lifted from the banks, or at least be reduced to minimum. If this is not blackmail, then what is it?” he added.

His comments came after leading French bank BNP Paribas pleaded guilty Monday to US criminal charges of violating sanctions on Iran and Sudan for eight years and was fined a record $8.9 billion.

France’s largest bank BNP Paribas has sufficient funding to back the fine and penalties it needs to pay under settlements with US authorities over sanctions busting, the French bank’s top executives said on Tuesday.

“Our liquidity situation, we always guided it as being ample,” said Chief Financial Officer Lars Machenil, “At Q1 we had an overall excess of stable funding of 100 billion in euros out of which 50 billion was in US dollars. Yesterday when I looked into the systems…, that figure was basically unchanged at the end of the (second) quarter. This should allow having relevant cash for the settlement.”

The Financial Officer added that there was “no hurry” to seek the additional tier 1 funding that is seen as a key measure of bank stability as a result of having to pay the fine, set at almost $9 under a settlement announced late on Monday in the US.

Machenil also said that the bank plans to offer cash dividends for this year at 1.5 euro per share, the same as it was in 2013.

France’s largest bank becomes the seventh bank to settle a violations case. “Like other banks, BNP hid the names of Sudanese and Iranian clients when sending transactions coursing through its New York operations and the broader American financial system,” media report.

France’s BNP to pay US $9 bln for violating American sanctions
BNP Paribas has neared a deal with US prosecutors that would see the French bank pay $8 billion to $9 billion and accept other punitive measures for violating American sanctions, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

It also demonstrates that in the increasingly more fragile alliance against Russia, more of Obama’s foreign policy partners are turning their backs on the US.

The WSJ reports “a group of 400 Russian sailors are scheduled to arrive on June 22 in the French Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire to undergo months of instruction before some of them pilot the first of two Mistral-class carriers back to Russia in the fall, said one of these people.”

As the WSJ explains, the training is a pivotal step that deepens France’s commitment to fulfilling the €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) contract to supply Russia with the carriers, which are built to launch amphibious attacks with landing craft, helicopters and tanks.

Calling off the Mistral contract, a French official said, would be akin to “shooting yourself in the foot,” forcing Paris to take the costly step of reimbursing Moscow.

France has already completed the first ship and built half of the second Mistral, which is scheduled for delivery in 2015. The second ship is named The Sevastopol after the Crimean port that serves as a headquarters for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

The Mistral is a potent weapon. The length of more than two football fields, the ship is designed to edge up to a shoreline and deploy more than a dozen tanks and attack helicopters as well as hundreds of troops.

The ship also plugs a crucial gap in Russia’s armed forces. Moscow boasts one of the world’s largest armies and a formidable air force. But Russia’s Black Sea fleet lacks an amphibious vessel like the Mistral, capable of launching a land invasion. That weakness deprived Moscow of a crucial knockout punch in 2008, when Russian troops invaded Georgia but never managed to dominate the former Soviet countries shoreline, forcing a stalemate.

“A ship like that would have allowed the Black Sea Fleet to accomplish its mission in 40 minutes,” Russian Navy Admiral Vladimir Vysotkiy said at the time.