The first Mistral, built for the Russian Navy, is launched in France. He is already promoting warfare problems

In the French city of Saint-Nasad, the first helicopter-bearer of the Mistral type, built for the Russian military fleet under the contract, concluded under the former Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Anatoly Serdyukov, is launched. The landing helicopter ship -Kod (DVKD) "Vladivostok" was gathered in parts in Russia and France: the company was prepared by the company STX France, the feed - "Baltic Plant". Then the stern was towed by sea in Saint-Naser, where the assembly of the vessel housing was completed, Interfax reports.

The Commander -in -Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Viktor Chirkov, called the descent of the ship a unique and historical event. “Today we see that the ship is already ready for water descent, but there is still painstaking work to put up all systems and prepare the crew of the ship,” he said. In this regard, Chirkov expressed special gratitude to the French Navy for assistance in training the personnel of Vladivostok, ITAR-TASS reports.

The second similar DVKD "Sevastopol" is now also being built in parts on the shipyards of both countries. The first two helicopter carriers will be part of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet) of Russia, ITAR-TASS was told by a source in the Main Staff of the Navy. Especially for these special -construction ships, he conducts work on the creation of coastal infrastructure in the port of Vladivostok - so far they are only in the initial stage.

Meanwhile, the command of the Pacific Fleet is already recruiting sailors-contractors to the crews of helicopter carriers. According to RIA Novosti, the head of the information support department of the Pacific Fleet, Captain 1st rank Roman Martov, "the crew of ships will be more than 200 people and will be equipped exclusively from officers, midshipmen and contractors."

According to him, the personnel special commission pays special attention to the level of education of candidates. For midshipmen and contracts under the contract, it should be not lower than the average special. An important element of selection is the psychological examination of applicants. An equally strict selection awaits candidates for the flight-technical composition of crews.

The package should be completed in November this year. After that, the crews will be trained in St. Petersburg, and then they will receive ships already in France.

Russian shipbuilders blame the Navy in sluggishness

In the Russian shipbuilding industry, meanwhile, it was reported that so far they have not received technical specifications from the Navy either on boats or weapons systems that new ships should be equipped with. Due to the slope of the fleet, the process can delay and disrupt the completion of the DVKD at the Northern Shipyard in St. Petersburg, sources are afraid of.

Russian Mistral, as expected, will be armed with Caliber supersonic cruise missiles, as well as 3M47 flexible anti-aircraft missiles and AK-630 artillery plants. In addition, they should be equipped with Russian -made or “dugon” type boats. As for the helicopters, eight KA-52K combat and the same number of transport Ka-29 will be placed on the deck.

Powerful criticism has called into question the construction of the two remaining ships

Note that after the change of leadership of the Ministry of Defense in Russia, a powerful wave of criticism of contracts concluded by Serdyukov rose in Russia. For example, in January 2013, First Deputy Head of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Government of the Russian Federation, Ivan Kharchenko, called the purchase of ships like Mistral "ridiculous initiative" , which "caused damage to the industry and the state."

In February, a prominent Russian expert in matters of defense industry and military-technical cooperation Mikhail Barabanov expressed the opinion that Russia had to completely abandon the Mistral project. However, since the rejection of already under construction ships will cost Russia even more than the implementation of the contract, the drum suggested refusing to build the next two such courts.

In December 2012, it was reported that it was supposedly decided to abandon the third and fourth Mistral helicopter carriers, which were supposed to build in Russian shipyards. However, a source in the military department then explained that there is no talk of refusal: just the beginning of construction, which was planned for 2013, is transferred to 2016.

And this year, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that the issue of the construction of the third and fourth ships in Russia will be resolved on the results of the first two, collected in French shipyards. "