Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) can build Russian analogues of French Mistral-type helicopter carriers at its Baltic Shipyard if it has an order from the Defense Ministry, USC President Alexei Rakhmanov said today.
"We need a clear task. From the point of view of production location, we know how to do that," he told the Ekho Moskvy radio station, TASS reports.
In his words, the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg is quite capable of tackling this task, since it was engaged in the construction of Mistrals’ afterbodies. He added that after the overhaul of the company’s shipyards, it was capable of building ships up to 250 metres long, which is 50 metres longer than French Mistrals.
He indicated that Russian-made helicopter carriers would be cheaper. "If I compare the price offhand, I can say that Russian submarines are 2.5 times cheaper. As for surface ships, it depends on the class," he said.
