French Mistral warship (Source: AFP)

According to a recent agreement between France and Russia, France will stop delivering two modern Mistral multi-purpose warships to Russia and Paris will reimburse Moscow for the advance payment (less than 1 billion euros). French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that the two Mistrals, which were suspended from being delivered to Russia due to its involvement in the Ukraine conflict, will now be fully owned by France.

Le Figaro (France) commented that the reason why both sides quickly reached a consensus on a compensation level 5 times lower than Russia's initial proposal (Moscow requested up to 5 billion euros) was because both sides had a common interest.

Russia is facing economic difficulties and is in dire need of cash. Meanwhile, on the French side, hot issues such as Ukraine and the war in the Middle East are points of disagreement between Russia and France in particular and Russia and the West in general.

The simplest solution to the two ships would be for the French Navy, which already has three Mistrals, to acquire two new ones. But an officer specializing in weapons programs said that with the current limited budget, it would be completely unprofitable for the French military to keep the two ships. According to experts, France will actively seek customers for the two Mistrals.

IHS Jane's forecasts that the global demand for Mistrals in the coming decades will be 26. But only five or six countries, led by Canada, India and Brazil, have the financial, military and technical capacity to buy and fully utilize the Mistral's capabilities.

Analyst Ben Moores of IHS Jane's said France would be able to sell the two Mistrals, but that it would likely take years for Paris to sell them. Meanwhile, weapons expert Philippe Migault of the Iris consultancy said the sale would cost France between 1-2 billion euros, with maintenance alone costing between 1-5 million euros a month.

More than a dozen countries including Egypt want to buy two French Mistral warships after the contract to sell them to Russia was canceled, a source close to the matter said.

Russia's Tass news agency reported on August 6 that India and Brazil could buy Mistral. Tass quoted Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, as saying that India has long wanted to buy and build warships of this type to equip its Navy. Brazil could buy if France offered an attractive price.

Recently, French President François Hollande informed the French press that it would not be difficult to find a customer to buy the Mistral at no additional cost.

However, shipbuilder DCNS estimated in February that it would cost hundreds of millions of euros to refit the two ships for new customers, and spend a million euros a month on maintenance in the meantime. Russian equipment installed on the two Mistrals, scheduled for delivery in October 2014 and October 2015, will be removed in the coming weeks, once the French parliament approves the cancellation of the contract with Russia.

The amount to be reimbursed is lower than the $1.2 billion value of the contract; however, it is higher than the 800 million euros that Moscow advanced because it must include training costs./.

(According to VN+)