ENS Anwar El Sadat (L1020) is an Egyptian Navy amphibious assault ship, a type of helicopter carrier, of the French Mistral class. It was originally built in France for the Russian Navy as part of a contract for two of these warships and underwent sea trials. The contract with Russia was subsequently cancelled by France and an agreement on compensation was reached with the Russian government. Egypt and France eventually concluded a deal to acquire the two warships for roughly 950 million euros. Egypt is considered the first and only country in Africa and the Middle East to possess a helicopter carrier of such type.
Sevastopol fitting out in Saint-Nazaire, December 2014
Ka-52K Katran, the ship-based attack helicopter is likely to serve on Egypt's Mistral carriers.
A helicopter carrier is a type of aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters. It has a large flight deck that occupies a substantial part of the deck, which can extend the full length of the ship like HMS Ocean of the Royal Navy (RN), or extend only partway, usually aft, as in the Soviet Navy's Moskva class or in the Chinese Navy's Type 0891A. It often also has a hangar deck for the storage and maintenance of rotorwing aircraft.
HMAS Canberra. Most modern helicopter carriers are amphibious assault ships.
