The US Congress does not believe that Russia needs the modern helicopter carriers that the OPK is planning to build at its shipyards.
The meeting on providing the Russian Navy with modern ships and weapons chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg last Friday outlined a strategy for the development of the Navy 30 years ahead of time.
MrPutin said it was necessary to develop a long-term programme of naval shipbuilding.
"It should meet the objective needs of the Navy and take into account the tasks that it faces today as well as those it may face 30 years from now. That is the minimum," the Prime Minister stressed.
Vladimir Putin urged the need to make the Russian Armed Forces "leaner and meaner" and to bring the percentage of modern weapons in its use to 70% by 2020.
That is a challenge. However, a great deal has already been done to provide the Russian Navy with modern warships. On the day when the Prime Minister was conducting the naval programme conference, a delegation of the French Defence Ministry arrived at the Baltic Plant in St Petersburg, which is part of the United Industrial Corporation. The French military officials, led by Chief Engineer for Armaments Alain Costes, wanted to look at the potential of the shipyard, one of the oldest in Russia (the Baltic Plant was created after Russia's defeat in the Crimean War in 1856 to meet the country's acute need for a new modern navy).
The reason the French wanted to inspect one of the oldest and most advanced shipyards in the country was the plan to build Mistral-class helicopter carriers for the Northern and Pacific fleets. Four or five Russian vessels under that project will be based on an authentic French Mistral for which the purchase deal is to be finalized shortly, probably before the New Year. The ship already called into port at St Petersburg in November and was seen by representatives of the Defence Ministry and the Navy.
The ship is impressive. The Mistral-class helicopter carrier has a displacement of 21,300 tons, is 210 metres long, 30 metres wide, has a maximum speed of 19 knots, and hosts a crew of 160. It can carry 450 soldiers, 16 heavy helicopters, air cushion vessels and motorboats, and can also be used as a base of operations. The French Navy has procured two Mistral helicopter carriers for its purpose.
The French delegation for its part liked what it saw at the shipyard. They looked at the building berth, the bodywork, the mechanical units, and the diesel-electric icebreaker that the S. Petersburg delivered to its customer this year. The logical culmination of the visit was a talk on the purchase of a license by OPK shipyards to build a large Mistral helicopter carrier for the Russian Navy.
The upbeat mood could not be marred even by bad news from across the Atlantic. Whether by accident or design, last Friday the US Congress discussed a resolution calling on NATO and EU countries not to sell Russia large weapons. The resolution, tabled by Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a senior Republican at the Foreign Relations Committee, instructs France and other NATO and European Union countries not to sell large weapons or other offensive military hardware to the Russian Federation. By specifically mentioning France among all the NATO member countries, the resolution is sending a clear signal that the US Congress wants to warn its ally against selling the Mistral to Russia.
But France has its own government. So does Russia. In November, President Dmitry Medvedev said that our country was planning to expand its naval presence in the world ocean and that, to that end, the Navy would need new ships.
Incidentally, OPK shipyards (which include the Baltic Plant and the Northern Shipyard built after the Russo-Japanese War) have considerable experience in building modern vessels. The Northern Shipyard built the flagship project 20380 corvette of the Steregushchy class, described by experts as a vessel that can bring a drastic change to naval battle tactics. So, during the French delegation's visit, the Director of the OPK's shipbuilding project and the Director-General of the Northern Shipyard and the Baltic Shipyard, Andrei Fomichov, said that the OPK's enterprises have the technical potential to build European-class ships at the Baltic Plant and the Northern Shipyard-including vessel design, automatic cutting, and an integrated computer network.
"The corporation's shipbuilding enterprises are prepared to handle three times more state orders," Mr Fomichev assured.
Sergey Kozlov