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24.02.2011 16:42:31
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Современность; Танки;
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Сама Panhard говорит именно о VBL
Здравствуйте, уважаемый lagr!
Date Posted: 23-Feb-2011
Jane's Defence Weekly
Panhard in 'advanced talks' with Russia over VBL sale
J A C Lewis JDW Correspondent Paris
France's Panhard is in "advanced talks" with Russia over supplying 500 light-armored vehicles and hopes to land the contract within the next few months, company chairman Christian Mons said on 23 February.
Mons said that negotiations with Moscow concerned the company's 3.1-ton Véhicule Blindé Léger (VBL) and that if the deal was confirmed, it would be worth about EUR200 million (USD260 million) to the French arms company.
He told Jane's the Russians had been testing the vehicle for some months and planned to assign it to the country's border guard service.
Panhard's deal with Russia would be subject to France's tight controls on defence exports. Foreign sales currently account for 20 per cent of Panhard's revenue. Mons said the company posted revenue of nearly EUR110 million in 2010 and achieved net earnings of about EUR6 million.
Such a deal would be the latest in a number of French materiel sales to Russia following the announcement in late December 2010 that Moscow had agreed to procure two Mistral-class amphibious assault vessels, with an option on a further two.
Russia has also looked to produce French equipment under licence; a recent example being the June 2010 contract under which the Thales Catharine-FC vehicle compact thermal imager was to be produced in Russia.
Russia's apparent interest in Panhard's VBL platform comes after Jane's reported in October 2010 that Russia was to begin manufacturing light-armoured vehicles in 2011 under a licence from Italian land systems manufacturer Iveco.
The contract related to the Iveco LMV M65 light multirole vehicle, which is to be produced through a semi-knock down (SKD) arrangement through an Iveco/Russian Technologies joint venture.
Russia's increased willingness to look to Europe for materiel has been the source of some disquiet in the domestic market, although licence production arrangements clearly ease such concerns.
In June last year, Moscow think-tank CAST released a report that said Russia may spend up to EUR10 billion (USD13.7 billion) in imports from Europe and Israel (principally unmanned systems in the latter case) over the next six years. A report in The Moscow Times towards the end of 2010 quoted Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as saying that "the era of [Russia's] monopoly over the domestic military market has come to an end".
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