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According to photos and videos available online, the Egyptian Navy used land-based Avenger air defense systems during the joint French-Egyptian naval exercises “Cleopatra 2017” that took place in July 2017.
The US-made AN/TWQ-1 Avenger sytems were positioned on the flight deck of the Mistral-class Landing Helicopter Dock and were acting as point short-range air defence systems.
The deployment of land-based air defense systems on the flight deck limits the military capabilities of the helicopter carrier. Furthermore, it directly limits the usage of attack helicopters from the flight deck.
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Meanwhile, reports appear that Russian and Egypt negotiate over Kamov Ka-52K attack helicopters supplies for Mistral-class LHDs operated by the Egyptian Navy.
The Russian state-run news agency TASS reported (SOURCE):
Russia and Egypt will hold negotiations at the MAKS-2017 international airshow on the deliveries of Russian-made Kamov Ka-52K helicopters for Mistral-class amphibious assault ships, Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev said on Tuesday.
‘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,” he said at the MAKS-2017 airshow.
It was reported earlier that Russia had won a tender for the delivery of deck-based Ka-52K helicopters for Egypt’s Mistral-class ships.
The Ka-52K is based on a range of shipborne rotocraft accepted by the Russian Navy for service. This range includes Ka-25, Ka-27, Ka-29 and Ka-31 helicopters.
More photos from Cleopatra 2017:
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