Russia will discuss arms deals with several Middle East and North Africa customers at the MAKS 2017 International Air Show, held this week near Moscow.
The Director of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, Dmitry Shugayev, noted at MAKS, “We presume that a large number of events will be held. We are planning negotiations with our partners from Egypt and are planning to discuss the issues of the deliveries of helicopters for Mistral ships.”
Cairo has selected Russia to supply helicopters as well as other onboard systems for its Mistral helicopter carriers. Those vessels, initially slated to be sold to Russia, were purchased in 2015 and delivered to Egypt last year.
Egypt is looking to purchase Ka-52Ks for its Mistrals. Later this year, Egypt is due to take delivery of the land-based Ka-52 from Russia.
In addition to Egypt, Shugayev noted that discussions will be held with Algeria as well as Turkey.
“Aside from [the Egypt discussions], the negotiations with our partners from Algeria and Turkey, generally focusing on the air defense and aircraft, have been scheduled” at MAKS, according to Shugayev.
He did not detail further what the negotiations with Algeria would cover. Russia and Turkey will continue talks regarding a potential sale of the S-400 air-defense system to Turkey.
Military markets analyst, covering Eurasia, Middle East, and Africa.
