joker88
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What you are referring to is not a place for cells, but this is a place for an easy-to-install winch with a payload of 1.3 tons to reload the cannon and Aster 15 missiles due to the weight of the winch, and this is only in the latest versions of the Bergamini of them for the Egyptian NavyI guess it must be true, then. Good spot by you. If you look at this pic of Al Galala, the angle shows the empty bin aft of the active one but it's empty. It doesn't have any hatches like the 16 in the forward one because it's probably vacant and that must be where the 2nd batch of 16 cells would go. You really have to look hard to see it, maybe even enlarge the pic on your screen to get a better look and see it.
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I guess there would also be the option of adding the additional 16 to both of these ships and maybe that's one of the items on the list of things to be done during this current trip of Al Galala to Italy, along with the non-Nato comms and the custom Egyptian navy EW system. It wouldn't make sense to have 2 ships with 16 VLS cells and 2 with 36.
On another note, I saw a video on the new Viper attack helicopter for the US Marine Corps and I started thinking that maybe this is an excellent alternative for the Ka-52Ks that were supposedly going to be the ones they were purchasing for the Mistrals. These things are loaded and fire the Hellfire missiles as well as the AIM-9X and I think the Harpoon block 2 & 3. Their radars are also AESA and supposedly have the latest, advanced avionics suite. This might be a better fit all around for the Mistrals and the EGY Navy as well as the EAF, bringing excellent compatibility with the Apache fleet.
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The only problem is how long the US takes to approve these FMSs. But it's not like the Katrans would be any faster at this point in time. We don't even know what the status is with the tender they signed for the 32 helicopters. Granted, those would also be very compatible with the Ka-52 Crocodiles, but there always will be the western compatibility factor that would favor western platforms.
New pic of Al Aziz Meko A200 (904) Frigate for the EN. The first of 4.
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Miko number is 6, not 4