Aviation Naval Warfare Land Systems Small Arms By Flag By Year By Tag

ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser (L1010)

2016 MODERN NAVY

ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser (L1010) Story

The arrival of the ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser (L1010) warship marks Egypt as the first (and only) African/Middle East country to deploy a viable aircraft carrier. The ship is a French-built amphibious assault ship/helicopter carrier originally in service with the Russian Navy.

With the Russian-led takeover of Crimea escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, France is facing mounting international political pressure not to hand over an order for two helicopter carriers to the original customer. As a result, an agreement was reached with Egypt to purchase the pair of aircraft, and both have since served in the Egyptian Navy.

Russia initially ordered the amphibious assault ship in June 2011, with the aim of having France complete 60% of the ship, with the remainder handled by Russian shipyards. French participation is managed by STX France in Saint-Nazaire, with Gamal Abdel Nasser settling in on 1 February 2012.

The warship was subsequently launched on October 15, 2013. The St. Petersburg United Shipbuilding Company contracted the rest of the construction and the ship was named "Vladivostok".

The sea trials officially started on March 5, 2014, but that year also saw the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. In September, the French government suspended deals with Russia, and in August 2015 the two countries reached a financial agreement to end the supply of two ships to Russia. France then turned to Egypt as an alternative buyer and the couple were adopted as "Gamel Abdel Nasser" and "Anwar El Sadat".

ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser (L1010) was acquired by the Egyptian Navy on September 23, 2015 and delivered in 2016. She entered service on June 2, 2016 and is currently stationed in Alexandria, Egypt.

The amphibious assault ship based on the French Mistral class was introduced to the French Navy in 2005. These ships are not "true" aircraft carriers per se, as they only support the launch and recovery of helicopter types from long-barreled straight flight decks. The island superstructure is traditionally offset to starboard, while the deep hull design enables the warship to carry all types of war supplies for ship-to-shore service in amphibious assault.

The crew is complemented by 310 standard operators.

Displacement is 16,500 tons when empty and 21,300 tons when fully loaded. The overall length is 660 feet, the beam is 105 feet, and the draft is 21 feet. Power comes from 3 Wartsila 16V32 engines with 8,300 hp each, allowing the vessel to reach speeds of nearly 19 knots and a range of up to 10,700 nautical miles.

2 x Rolls-Royce Mermaid azimuth thrusters provide fine-tuned maneuverability.

A complete helicopter facility is part of the design, including a spacious flight deck and lower deck hangar. Up to 16 heavy or 35 light rotor systems can support landing and recovery through six launch pads reserved along the flight deck. Currently (2016), the Egyptian Navy is displaying a range of Western helicopters, including the US Kaman SH-2G "Super Kraken", the UK Westland "Sea King" and NHIndustries NH90 series, and the French Aerospace company "Gazelle" . Both the Seasprite and Sea King are equipped for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations, while the Gazelle is reserved for coastal reconnaissance due to its lightweight design.

The Soviet-Russian Mil Mi-8 was also in service with the Egyptian Navy and was used exclusively for the delivery of infantry and supplies.

Notably, the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter appears on the Gamal Abdel Nasser badge.

In addition to the air force, the ship is also equipped with speedboats and landing craft, can transport 2 landing craft, air cushion system. Holds up to 40 main battle tank (MBT) vehicles and 900 combat readiness personnel.

In addition to its obvious value as a warship, the ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser can also be used for humanitarian relief missions because of its onboard space and medical facilities.

So far (2016) ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser has been able to participate in the naval exercise "Cleopatra 2016" in the Mediterranean Sea, in which members of both the Egyptian and French navies participated. This greatly helps the former train its crews and helicopter flight crews to deal with the nuisances of amphibious assault support and helicopter carrier operations.