The Kremlin’s Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov announced on Monday that Russia will sell Egypt helicopters and other hardware worth over $1 billion to equip the Mistral aircraft carriers Egypt bought from France recently.

"Russia will be, if you want, a sub-contractor, who will supply the missing equipment without which the Mistral warships are just tin cans. And of course, all the helicopters,” Ivanov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Sputnik.

Earlier in October Egypt signed a deal with France to buy two Mistral warships that the French originally built for Russia before scrapping the sale over the Ukraine crisis.

The two ships are expected to arrive in Egypt by the summer of 2016 and the Egyptian naval crew who will man them will receive training in the first six months of the same year.

Each ship can carry hundreds of troops, transport dozens of vehicles and tanks, and up to 16 helicopters. Their most significant feature is a modern command and control system that can direct the movement of vehicles during battles at sea or on land.