Citing an informed source, Tass News Agency reported on April 18, 2017 that a Russian delegation is heading to Egypt to continue negotiations between the two sides for new equipment for Egypt’s Mistral helicopter carriers.
Cairo is interested in purchasing communications as well as control equipment.
Tass quoted the source as saying, “Negotiations continue, the Russian delegation has left for Egypt to discuss with the Egyptian side the parameters of the potential deal with the available technical proposals on the communications and control equipment.”
The report stressed that there is no official confirmation of this information.
Egypt has previously been reported to be interested in purchasing Russian-made equipment for the Mistral helicopter carriers, which it bought in 2015. The country is already planning to equip its new vessels — which arrived last year — with Ka-52 attack helicopters from Russia.
Late in 2015, Egypt placed an order for 46 Ka-52s, believed to be the naval variant, Ka-52K.
The first Ka-52 deliveries will begin this year. Russian Helicopters confirmed in January in a statement that it had already completed assembly of the first model. The statement read, “The first experimental unit for a foreign customer has already been assembled and is successfully passing all tests as planned.” Russian Helicopters plans to double production in 2017, “as some [Ka-52s] will be headed overseas.”
Deliveries may be completed in 2019.
Military markets analyst, covering Eurasia, Middle East, and Africa.
