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Showing posts with the label French Defence

British Carrier and F 35 Stealth Fighter Jets on Board Join with the French Carrier And Rafale (Credits- Military of USA)

Why China Will Never Operate France's Mistral-class Amphibious Assault Ships ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Ankit Panda)

Le Tonnerre Mistral Class Ship ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Beotien Lambda) Source- The Diplomat Author- Ankit Panda Yesterday, I took a look at the largely apocryphal notion that China may be eyeing France’s Mistral-class advanced amphibious warfare ships — specifically, the two ships that were originally built for Russia but later withheld after Vladimir Putin’s decision to annex Crimea and support anti-government rebels in the Donbass. In that piece, I perhaps focused a bit too much on the impressive hardware of the Mistral itself and less so on the huge reasons why it is incredibly unlikely that China will ever purchase or operate one of these ships as part of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. I outline the reasons for that in what follows. The first, and most important reason, is the European Union’s arms embargo against a China. While I briefly mentioned this, it’s worth emphasizing the extent to which this makes this sale basically impossible. T

Is China Eyeing These Advanced French Amphibious Assault Ships? ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Ankit Panda)

BPC Dixmude ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- Simon Ghesquiere, Marine Nationale) Source- The Diplomat Author- Ankit Panda In 2014, France determined that it would avert plans to sell two of its Mistral-class amphibious assault ships that were originally bound for sale to Russia. The decision was spurred, in part, by pressure from French allies, including the United States, who saw a sale of a complex naval asset to Russia in the wake of its support of anti-government Ukrainian rebels as inappropriate. The deal between France and Russia had originally been concluded in 2011, and was canceled last year, leaving the French with two Mistrals in hand, miffed at the lack of an eager customer. The Franco-Russian agreement for the Mistral sale reached a final price of $1.37 billion euros for the two ships. Two weeks ago, reports emerged in the Taiwan-based China Times, citing Duowei News, that China may be the latest customer for the French Mistral vessels. The re