Posted on 05/11/2015 9:37:59 AM PDT by tcrlaf
France may sell China the same two Mistral-class warships that would have been delivered to Russia under the terms of a nixed 2011 deal, according to a report. French officials opted not to sell the ships to Russia last November amid Moscow’s increased military activity in Eastern Europe.
A potential sale of the Mistrals to China was one of several options French officials were considering to mitigate the financial loss associated with the canceled deal, Russia-owned outlet Sputnik News reports, citing a report from the Watch China Times. The ships could also be integrated into the French navy or sold to another party, such as Brazil, India or Canada. Russian officials have purportedly warned France not to sell the Mistral carriers without Moscow’s approval.
France and Russia agreed in 2011 to a $1.7 billion deal for the delivery of two French-built Mistral helicopter carriers by the end of 2014. But the French government declined in late 2014 to carry out the transaction’s terms, given the European Union’s sanctions against Russia for its annexation of the formerly Ukrainian territory of Crimea in March 2014 and purported involvement in armed conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...
France gets to say "We didn't sell them to Russia!", and gets paid. China makes a little money, and gets even better relations with Russia. Putin gets his Mistrals, and the ability to project power, for the Russian Navy.
I wonder if the French warships come with a permanently attached white flag?
France, bashing itself in the face for more than 70 years.
yep. Who needs Victor Bout when you got the French.
So, a potential solution for not selling to Russia (let's call that country a mangy dog that is acting like it has rabies) is to sell to China (let's call it a ravenous tiger with a bad toothache). Yup! 100% Mensa thinking right there chaps! True genius!
Russia is a veritable 'bad guy,' but China makes Russia look like Mr Rogers. Maybe not right now, but in the next decade or two the West will miss the Soviet Union as China rises up (even higher than it is now) and shows what happens when you take Western capitalism, reject Soviet stupidity but keep the need to (at least eventually) defeat the West.
Hey NATO/EU get off your butts and buy these...then sail them to the Med to interdict and return to Africa the immigrants fleeing to Europe.
China will be selling knockoffs in a few years ,LOL
Yeah, but nobody will be able to figure out the assembly instructions.
Highly unlikely, if not impossible. France is trying to selling billions worth of weaponry to India/Australia/Malaysia and possibly Vietnam.
The total worth of two Mistral ships is far short of that prospective market and China actually is building its own LHDs. It seems like mischief from Sputnik News.
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