Pakistan Navy Set To Receive American Spruance Class Destroyer

PakistanDefence.com ^ | 12-08-2005

[Republican Party Reptile]

December 8, 2005: In a good news for Pakistan Navy United States House of Representatives has given its final approval for providing USS Fletcher to Pakistan and other ships to Turkey, Egypt, India and Greece. This bill has been sent to President George Bush for signing after the parliamentary approval. The US senate has earlier passed the bill that will become a law after the president’s signs. United States will provide a Spruance class destroyer USS Fletcher in military aid to Pakistan after President Bush’s approval.

USS Fletcher is currently docked on Pearl Harbor. Ship can carry a crew of 382 including 30 officers. One of the unique features of Spruance Class Destroyer is its ability to launch cruse missiles. PakistaniDefence.com analysis show that Pakistan navy will upgrade some of the systems to its requirements specially reconfiguring of existing onboard missile systems to carry ship based Babur cruse missile. In addition to wide array of armament ship can also carry two helicopters.

Egypt will be given USS Raven and USS Cardinal while Greece will be provided a ship of the same category. United States will give Turkey a Spruance class destroyer ship USS Fletcher, while four countries including India will purchase warships from United States. Austin class amphibious warfare ship Trenton will be sold to India. It should be noted the USS Trenton was ordered by US navy on 17 May 1965 and is set to be decommissioned by 2007-08. [Click Here For Detailed Copy Of The Actual Approved Bill]

[Republican Party Reptile]

Interesting ... at 9100 ton it's got to be the largest surface ship in the Pakistan Navy, I think the largest ship they currently have is the 3700 ton ex-UK Type 21 FFG's.

So they are going to fit their own Babur cruise missile on the VLS? That will make things interesting in the Indian Ocean. It's got a short leg (300 miles or so range) but is nuclear capable ...

[1rudeboy]

So who gets the Fletcher, Turkey or Pakistan? I'm curious because one of my friends served on the Fletcher.

[indcons]

This is yet another dangerous step in the militarization of Pakistan by the USA. Pakistan's forces are obviously targeted towards India. Washington and Delhi talk of co-operation but pursue steps like these that are detrimental to future relationships.

The average Pakistani HATES America...yet America continues to pamper Pakistan. This news is troubling indeed.

[minus_273]

say what you want about the "average pakistani", i have not been there and cant speak for them. What i can say is that for 50 years, pakistan and not india has been an ally. While india cozied up with the USSR, pakistan allowed US to do recon over the USSR and also fight off the communists in Afghanistan. Lets not forget Musharaff sided with us in 2001 and allowed us to use pakistan to fight Al-Queda.

For every image of protesting pakistanis, i can show you stuff from west bengal and other parts of india ruled by the left burning US flags. By numbers alone, i'm quite sure there are more indians than pakistanis that hate america.

There is plenty of room for criticism of the pakistan gov, but i say better to have them on our side than against us.

[badpacifist]

I protest!

[Westlander]

Bas Itna Sa Khawab Hai :>)

[Trinity5]

Turkey is getting the Cushing and also buying the O'Bannon. Also the two ships going to Egypt and Greece aren't Destroyers but costal minehunters.

[CarrotAndStick]

...pakistan allowed US to do recon over the USSR...

Spies in the Himalayas
Secret Missions and Perilous Climbs
M. S. Kohli and Kenneth Conboy
March 2003
248 pages, 28 photographs, 8 maps, 6 x 9
Modern War Studies
Cloth ISBN 0-7006-1223-8, $29.95 (t)

In the towering mountains of northern India, a chilling chapter was written in the history of international espionage. After the Chinese detonated their first nuclear test in 1964, America and India, which had just fought a border war with its northern neighbor, were both justifiably concerned. The CIA knew it needed more information on China’s growing nuclear capability but had few ways of peeking behind the Bamboo Curtain. Because of the extreme remoteness of Chinese testing grounds, conventional surveillance in this pre-satellite era was next to impossible.

The solution to this intelligence dilemma was a joint American-Indian effort to plant a nuclear-powered sensing device on a high Himalayan peak in order to listen into China and monitor its missile launches. It was not a job that could be carried out by career spies, requiring instead the special skills possessed only by accomplished mountaineers. For this mission, cloaks and daggers were to be replaced by crampons and ice axes.

Spies in the Himalayas chronicles for the first time the details of these death-defying expeditions sanctioned by U.S. and Indian intelligence, telling the story of clandestine climbs and hair-raising exploits. Led by legendary Indian mountaineer Mohan S. Kohli, conqueror of Everest, the mission was beset by hazardous climbs, weather delays, aborted attempts, and even missing radioactive materials that may or may not still pose a contamination threat to Indian rivers.

Kept under wraps for over a decade, these operations came to light in 1978 and have been long rumored among mountaineers, but here are finally given book-length treatment. Spies in the Himalayas provides an inside look at a CIA mission from participants who weren’t agency employees, drawing on diaries from several of the climbers to offer impressions not usually recorded in covert operations. A host of photos and maps puts readers on the slopes as the team attempts repeatedly to plant the sensor on a Himalayan summit.

An adventure story as well as a new chapter in the history of espionage, this book should appeal to readers who enjoyed Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and to anyone who enjoys a great spy story.

“A riveting first-hand account of one of the darker moments of Cold War espionage, with plenty of James Bondian flourishes: a CIA-backed spy mission to the roof of the world . . . snowstorms and deadly frostbite . . . and a missing nuclear-powered eavesdropping device that threatens to leak lethal contamination into the Ganges. What a ride!”--Frank Snepp, former CIA agent and author of Decent Interval and Irreparable Harm

“A marvelously detailed account of one of the most exotic and hazardous intelligence operations of the Cold War. . . . A rare treat for anyone interested in mountaineering, secret intelligence, or tales of high adventure.”--William M. Leary, author of Project Coldfeet: Secret Mission to a Soviet Ice Station

“A lively and fascinating account that rivals Fleming and le Carré.”--David Rudgers, author of Creating the Secret State

[pabianice]

All Sprucans are good for is ASW.

[CarrotAndStick]

By numbers alone, i'm quite sure there are more indians than pakistanis that hate america...

http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=247

The latest survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, conducted among nearly 17,000 people in the United States and 15 other countries from April 20-May 31, finds that America's image is strongest in India. Fully 71% in India express a positive opinion of the United States, compared with 54% three years ago.

[Oztrich Boy]

December 8, 2005: In a good news for Pakistan Navy United States House of Representatives has given its final approval for providing USS Fletcher to Pakistan ....
United States will give Turkey a Spruance class destroyer ship USS Fletcher,

They're gonna share it. How does that work? 6 months/year in each navy or 50:50 crew?

[Oztrich Boy]

By numbers alone, i'm quite sure there are more indians than pakistanis that hate america... - minus_273

America's image is strongest in India. Fully 71% in India express a positive opinion of the United States, compared with 54% three years ago.- CarrotAndStick

Let's not argue. you're both right.

Pakistam 150 million, 68% of whom hate the US =102 million

Imdia - 1 billion, 17% of whom hate the US = 170 milion

Ain't statistics fun? (still wouldn't trust the Pak thoyugh)

[familyop]

Yes. Most of us Americans are baffled by it. It doesn't make good sense.

[LSUfan]

Pakistan could very well be the next Iran and all the weapons we sent their way could end up turned around back toward us--just like Iranian F-14 Tomcats.

[Saberwielder]

Yup that's why its a great idea to arm a nation that is one bullet away from being our enemy. If our interests are going to be threatened, why not have them threatened by our own weapons right? I say we give them a few ICBMs while we are at it. After all, we can keep living the cold war forever, can't we? ;)

[PAR35]

can also carry two helicopters.

The source I googled up indicated that the Fletcher could only accomodate 1 helicopter. It looks like about half of the class had accomodations for two, the other half just one.

[PAR35]

It should be noted the USS Trenton was ordered by US navy on 17 May 1965

The Trenton was commissioned in 1971. It is going to need some upgrading.

[minus_273]

I have no reason to argue. I did the math before i wrote my post. thats why i said "by numbers alone".

[minus_273]

yeah, we could always pull a carter and let musharaff fall like the Shah. I recall reading the US generated a lot of good will in its response to the recent earthquake. This is something that worked incredibly well in indonesia after the tsunami.

[Saberwielder]

Is it always a binary thing? There are plenty of ways to reward allies without creating future liabilities. Are you telling me that the USS Fletcher is going to fly around and stop assassination attempts on Musharraf or somehow prevent them? We should be focusing on reforming the education system and building up Pakistan's infrastructure. In 2005, we spent $20 million on direct eductional assistance to Pakistan and $1.5 Billion in total military related aid and "compensation." Tell me it makes sense.