As is known, The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation ordered the construction of two universal landing ships in Kerch at the Zaliv shipyard (UDC). Their appearance is suspiciously reminiscent of the French Mistral helicopter carriers.
American arms expert David Ax writes about this in an article for the Western edition of Forbes..
The author suggests, that the new Russian UDC was copied from the French Mistral, which our country planned to acquire six years ago, but due to the imposed sanctions, the contract was terminated, the deal didn't go through.
The contract between the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Kerch Shipyard was signed 22 May. Under the contract, the enterprise must build two universal landing ships of the project 23900.
The displacement of the new UDC is 25 thousand tons. It is capable of carrying up to 20 helicopters, several boats for landing and 900 Marines.
David Ax refers to the Russian author of Livejournal, nicknamed bmpd, which also draws attention to the significant similarity of the new Russian ship with the French landing helicopter carrier.
Besides, as an argument in favor of his version, Ex cites the conclusion of the American Center for Naval Analysis, made last year and concerning the alleged plans of the Russian military leadership to create the UDC:
If such ships are built, then when they are created, undoubtedly, that short experience will be useful, which the Russians acquired from the French under the contract for the supply of Mistrals before, how it was terminated.
