New Egyptian Naval Vessels

Mankyspuds

The Egyptians have agreed to take the two heli-carriers built for Russia off of Frances hands. Would this cause any 'stress' to their neighbours? Is it bit over the top?, I know they have a fairly strong navy but do they need them?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34335224

Couldn't imagine the Israelis being too hot on them having these two vessels.

And there is no way it'll bother any islamic nutcases, just two nice big fat targets.

Thoughts?

BoJack Horseman

Very curious purchase by Egypt.

in & around €900m on two LHD's that they have next to no role for.

Its never has & is never likely to engage in any expeditionary naval action.
Its not likely to employ them as a humanitarian vessel as France has done in the past.
Perhaps one or both may be parked off Yemen in the future?

I believe their are arctic toughened, so Canada was the perfect buyer, but they passed.

Very odd on its own merit, but worth remembering that the regime recently penned a deal to purchase 24 Raphaels from Dassault & a FREMM frigate aswell.... possible that the 2 mistrals were the cherry on top.

Morpheus

Wonder will Egypt sell them on to Russia?

BoJack Horseman

Morpheus wrote: »

Wonder will Egypt sell them on to Russia?

Could happen.

They have agreed to procure a couple of squadrons of Mig-29s from Russia

Wouldn't be surprised if it happened.... Makes more sense than Egypt holding them

justchecked

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Could happen.

They have agreed to procure a couple of squadrons of Mig-29s from Russia

Wouldn't be surprised if it happened.... Makes more sense than Egypt holding them

Politically convenient for France too. 'well we didn't sell the ships to them'.

Tabnabs

They'll park one either end of Suez and remind all and sundry just who's territory it is.

aindriu80

Egypt doesn't really make overseas deployments so I don't know why they bought them. I thought someone like Brazil might buy them but their economy did crash recently. They look great but are not cheap.

IrishTrajan

aindriu80 wrote: »

Egypt doesn't really make overseas deployments so I don't know why they bought them. I thought someone like Brazil might buy them but their economy did crash recently. They look great but are not cheap.

That's why it's great to have good friends:

http://sputniknews.com/military/20150924/1027460211/saudi-arabia-egypt-mistrals-deal.html

Saudi Arabia will help Egypt to purchase the Mistral-class ships, newspaper Express reported quoting a source in the French government.

“The help will be significant,” the statement in the newspaper read.

Earlier, the Express reported that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have helped Egypt before in the acquisition of French military equipment, in particular the fighter jet Rafale, a contract which was signed in February 2015.

Following this, Russia has sold the helicopters it planned to place upon the ships, and several more normal variants to the Egyptian Army

http://defense-update.com/20150924_mistral-2.html

Egypt, France and Russia have reached an agreement to sell Egypt the two Mistral Helicopter Carriers originally built in France for the Russian Navy. Saudi Arabia is likely to finance the acquisition, as it supported the other arms deals Egypt has struck with France.

Each Mistral vessel is capable of carrying 16 helicopters, up to 1000 troops and 50 armored vehicles.
Egypt is also buying Russian Ka-52K helicopters from the Russian Helicopters Company, Russian news agency TASS reported. These helicopters were originally designed to operate from the vessel in Russian service. The Russian Navy is also expected to buy these helicopters, becoming operational in 2017-2018; Egypt is expected to receive its first helicopters at the same time.

This is, of course, a tremendous increase in capabilities for the Egyptian military. This would give Egypt an ability to project influence into the Arabian Peninsula (for example, in Yemen), into the Mediterranean (striking Libyan factions), or to allow them to take part in any further Arab League manoeuvres and build upon their ties with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.

A little bonus is that it also allows them to negate Turkey's growing power (who are expected to acquire LHDs), as both of them are on opposing sides in the Libyan conflict.

IrishTrajan

Morpheus wrote: »

Wonder will Egypt sell them on to Russia?

Unlikely, since the Egyptian's have agreed to buy the helicopters Russia intended to use on it. It hardly makes sense for them to buy the helicopters just to sell them back or have nowhere to use them.

This also falls somewhere in line with France's strategic interests: France seems to be aligning itself to be an alternative Great Power for countries to turn to once the US weans itself away from you. They're willing to sell weapons, they're willing to build nuclear reactors for you (in this case; Saudi Arabia), they're willing to openly call for airstrikes against the people you're in conflict with... The US might be disentangling itself from the Middle East, France is just getting back in the game.

IrishTrajan

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Very curious purchase by Egypt.

in & around €900m on two LHD's that they have next to no role for.

That they're also likely not going to have to pay for. If someone offered me a free car, I wouldn't say no.

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Its never has & is never likely to engage in any expeditionary naval action.
Its not likely to employ them as a humanitarian vessel as France has done in the past.
Perhaps one or both may be parked off Yemen in the future?

Yemen, Libya, the Sinai Peninsula, projecting power into the Red Sea or the Mediterranean... It's not a bad piece of kit to have in case you need it.

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

I believe their are arctic toughened, so Canada was the perfect buyer, but they passed.

Canada has a lot more basic requirements to fulfil first. It would've been nice to see them take them, but I guess it just isn't worth it.

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Very odd on its own merit, but worth remembering that the regime recently penned a deal to purchase 24 Raphaels from Dassault & a FREMM frigate aswell.... possible that the 2 mistrals were the cherry on top.

It could be that they genuinely want force projection, or they could just be cosy-ing up to France and Saudi Arabia since the US made it clear they're willing to pull the plug on weapons exports to Egypt when they need to.

BoJack Horseman

IrishTrajan wrote: »

A little bonus is that it also allows them to negate Turkey's growing power (who are expected to acquire LHDs), as both of them are on opposing sides in the Libyan conflict.

Does it though?
I mean, in terms of status it does, but in a conflict, it wouldn't.

The Turkish LHD is a 'Juan Carlos' class.
Bigger, heavier with a ski-ramp capable of fielding fixed-wing aircraft... Including the F35-B (subject to testing).

Offensively the Mistral can field whatever a helicopter can carry.... Which is much more limited.

IrishTrajan

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Does it though?
I mean, in terms of status it does, but in a conflict, it wouldn't.

The Turkish LHD is a 'Juan Carlos' class.
Bigger, heavier with a ski-ramp capable of fielding fixed-wing aircraft... Including the F35-B (subject to testing).

Offensively the Mistral can field whatever a helicopter can carry.... Which is much more limited.

In capabilities, Turkey would have the upper hand, but Egypt/Turkey are never going to butt heads, and it's more about stature. Really, anywhere in Egypt's sphere of influence, they already have significant reach with their air force. The Mistrals will allow Egypt to show off their strength by rocking up with an armoured force and some helicopters, kinda like how Brazil sent its rust bucket carrier around Africa to show off it's reach.

slapper2

Think we could expand th basin in Haulbowline to take em lol

IrishTrajan

slapper2 wrote: »

Think we could expand th basin in Haulbowline to take em lol

The Spanish trawlers wouldn't know what hit them