Brazil is reportedly buying the Royal Navy’s only helicopter carrier on the cheap

he United Kingdom has reportedly finalized the sale of the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean to Brazil for less than a third of what it originally spent to build the ship. The Brazilian Navy looks to be the big winner in the deal, which effectively ends the possibility of the Royal Navy having any interim aircraft carrier capability, no matter how limited, until HMS Queen Elizabeth enters operational service.

On Jan. 2, 2018, U.K. Defence Journal reported that Brazilian Defense Minister Raul Jungmann had confirmed the purchase in December 2017. Brazil will pay almost $115 million for Ocean, but it is unclear if that cost will include any refit or refurbishment of the ship or if the government in Brasilia will have to come up with the entire amount at once. The United Kingdom still has yet to officially decommission the ship, which it expects to do in 2018, but the first rumors of the sale appeared in March 2017.