"You lost another sub, Andrei?"
Posted on 02/09/2010 3:05:12 AM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
France defended on Monday its decision to sell an advanced warship to Russia, shrugging off concerns that the helicopter carrier could threaten Georgia and arguing that Moscow had to be treated with respect.
Russia asked to buy the 21,300-tonne, Mistral class warship to modernise hardware that was exposed as outdated during its five-day war against Georgia in 2008.
After months of debate, France finally announced on Monday it would sell the vessel to Russia for an undisclosed sum.
President Nicolas Sarkozy defended the decision during a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was paying a flying visit to Paris.
A French official said Sarkozy had told Gates he did not think the sale posed a military problem.
"One cannot expect Russia to behave as a partner if we don't treat it as one," the official, who declined to be named, quoted Sarkozy as telling the U.S. defense secretary.
France is a full member of NATO and its willingness to sell Russia advanced technology that could be used in a confrontation against its allies has caused concern among other NATO members.
"Our friends and allies in Eastern Europe are clearly nervous about it, especially Georgia. And with good reason," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said ahead of Gates's meeting with the French president
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
French BA$#@RDS!
I hope that France is thrown out of NATO.
Bomb Paris now!
Considering that it going to be a French made ship, I don’t think there is much to worry about. The French are only slightly better than the Indians and, these days, the Indians are actually far better than the Russians.
If you want to see an Indian naval officer cry, just mention the Russian carrier that is years overdue will probably end up being towed to India when (and if) it is ever delivered.
It’s actually quite amusing. Looking back at the cold war, I wonder why we were that worried about the Russians in the first place. This ship is not going to be a big deal.
Several key points here:
1) Russia is unable to reliably build her own ships.
2) French warships, esp. light carriers, are light-years behind ours in technology.
3) No-one can build or maintain super carriers like ours - making the US Navy the BSD (Big Swinging D***) of the planet.
It is a race to see who conquers France first, the Russians, the Germans or the Muslims.
My money is on the Muslims... Though you never can tell...
>1) Russia is unable to reliably build her own ships.
Bullshit.
Today, Russian shipyards are fully loaded with orders:
- 1 Heavy aircraft carrying cruiser (ex. “Admiral Gokshkov”) modernistation for India
- 3 SSBN subs(boomers) - 955 class “Borei”
- 2 multipurpose SSN subs - 855 class “Yasen”
- 3 diesel-powered subs - 677 class “Lada”
- 1 big frigate - 22350 class
- 4 corvette - 20380 class
- 1 corvette - 11661Ê class
- Couple of small ships
Soviet Union and Russia never had build ships in same class as French “Mistral” - it’s true.
>2) French warships, esp. light carriers, are light-years behind ours in technology.
Patriotic scream
>3) No-one can build or maintain super carriers like ours - making the US Navy the BSD (Big Swinging D***) of the planet.
“Super carriers” are overrated.
OK, let me rephrase that: "Russia is unable to build her own reliable ships."
And sorry about your Russian inferiority complex - but you're not the only country having a hard time accepting that.
>OK, let me rephrase that: “Russia is unable to build her own reliable ships.”
Blablahblah
And why we should consider Russian ships as “unreliable”. Based on what? Incidents, technical failures? Western navies has incidents too.
"You lost another sub, Andrei?"
It’s not about building ships-why waste money and time on a new design when you can buy one of the shelf. Several countries, including Australia and India have brought or are considering European LHD designs which they will build in their own yards.
The Mistral is not a light carrier-it’s a multirole amphibious assault ship. About it being light years behind US ships-sorry to be nitpicking. The US doesn’t really have anything in the ‘Light’ category. The Wasp class and its follow-ons are nearly twice the size of their Spanish or French counterparts and would be an overkill for most navies.
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