“Russia’s military-industrial sector is quite capable of constructing an analogue of the Mistral-class ship. The vessel is currently at the final stage of design and will be probably laid down soon afterwards,” Captain Ι Rank Vladimir Tryapichnikov said on Saturday in a live broadcast from the radio station Echo Moskvy.
Earlier on Wednesday, the deputy chairman of Russian State Duma's Committee on Industry, Vladimir Gutenev, also said that Russia is capable of building its own nuclear powered equivalent of France's Mistral-class helicopter carrier as Moscow is aware of the design of the French-made ship.
"It will not be difficult from a technical point of view to build something like the Mistral especially since we have gained access to the drawing list of the [French] helicopter carriers as a number of our weapons systems are adapted to the military characteristics of these ships," Gutenev said.
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin also confirmed that Russia possesses the necessary technology to build helicopter carriers similar to the French-made Mistral ships.
Also on Saturday Captain Ι Rank Vladimir Tryapichnikov said that the Russian Navy will get an advanced aircraft carrier by 2026-2027.
