Commentary:Will the USS Kitty Hawk cement U.S.-India military ties?

United Press International,Asia ^ | Nov. 28 | M.D. NALAPAT

[AndyJackson]

Thanks largely to India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who shared with his leftwing British friends a dislike of the Yanks, the geopolitically senseless alienation between the United States and India continued for five decades after India's independence in 1947.

Yes, blame it all on Nehru. It is not as though short-sightedness on the part of the United States, and our (their) view that if you are not with us you are against us in the war on communism, didn't lead to a decision to make an alliance with Pakistan and cut India adrift.

The only correct part of this is that this has made no sense. We are natural friends of India, sharing language, jurisprudence, and a belief in technological innovation as a positive benefit to society. But instead of wanting friends, we wanted bought and paid for sycophants.

[Non-Sequitur]

Why would the IN want F-18s,if it’s not planning on a large carrier(with a catapult).

Why would Canada, Spain, and Australia want it? Because it's a good platform.

[Gengis Khan]

I wish it hadn't been too late to scrap the Gorshkov deal altogether and to go for the Kitty Hawk.

[Gengis Khan]

Kitty Hawk would save time if not money. As for Gorshkov it may take a while before it think of hitting the waves. Moreover I have doubts about its performance-there may not be much difference between Gorshkov and Viraat. A lot of experts have described the Gorshkov as the “white elephant”. Why not spend more and get a real carrier?

[cmdjing]

Most of these Indian defense "analysts" are dumber than a sack of bricks and deluded by their self importance to boot.

All of this theorizing (more accurately conspiracyizing) is just dancing around the two simple facts that put to rest his entire arguement. One, the U.S. has not offered the Kitty Hawk for sale nor will it. Two, India cannot afford to pay for the overhaul and operation of the Kitty Hawk and it's airwing nor does it even have the capability to operate it. Keep in mind that the Indian Navy budget is a little more than 3 Billion USD as of 2006, in comparison the US Navy is operating on over 130 Billion. Overhauling the Kitty Hawk will cost billions and it will cost that and again some in operating cost for it's remaining life cycle. To purchase the Kitty Hawk, the Indian Navy would be required to jettison it's procurement policy for the next decade or more throwing long term plans into complete disarray. Furthermore the ship will require over 4000 additional highly specialized sailors which do not spring forth from nowhere in no time. Not to mention the additional land based support elements and and miscellaneous costs that always emerge in large projects. Purchasing and refitting the Gorshkov was a big enough mistake as is, repeating it on a grander scale with the Kitty Hawk would be just stupid.

[sukhoi-30mki]

Well,both the Rafale & Mig-35 are also competing for the MRCA contract,which is for the IAF.The Rafale already has a carrier variant(& is lighter than the Super Hornet) & systems from the 35 can be used on the Mig-29K.Infact the Rafale M was favoured over the Mig-29K initially for the Gorshkov.So the carrier angle cannot be used here,unless ofcourse the Indian navy was also slated to get new aircraft under the contract-which is unlikely as of now.

[sukhoi-30mki]

Umm,As far as I know the countries which have cooperated with India on aerial refuelling was Britain(leased VC-10s a decade ago) & ofcourse the Russians(IL-78 tankers) & Israel(refuelling systems)-I don’t see much overt US involvement in all this.

[sukhoi-30mki]

Nobody’s doubting that it is a great platform,but why would the Indian Navy want it(those are air forces you have cited) & that too without a carrier???The Indian Navy has always operated a very small air arm from which it needs to get the maximum.The Hornet variants are both short on range for a shore based role unlike the SU-30 or F-15E.

[sukhoi-30mki]

For once,I am in agreement with Cmdjing says!!While the Hawk is a bigger & better ship than the Gorshkov,there are serious drawbacks to the idea.One is that it will start acting like the Viraat is now within 15 years.The Gorshkov may not be any better,but it’s 20 years younger & unused.Then there is the whole question of expanding support facilities in the Navy as well as training additional crews.The Gorshkov will still have a crew half the size of that found on the KittyHawk-it takes years to train up such personnel-so the Kitty would not essentially be 100 percent fit to go into combat.

[af_vet_rr]

Umm,As far as I know the countries which have cooperated with India on aerial refuelling was Britain(leased VC-10s a decade ago) & ofcourse the Russians(IL-78 tankers) & Israel(refuelling systems)-I don’t see much overt US involvement in all this.

I think it was an article in the Air Force Times that mentioned a big exercise involving USAF and India Air Force aircraft and some long-range refueling exercises over the Pacific. India is also going to be participating in Red Flag next year (they have already worked with the US and Britain in past wargames but the move to have them involved in Red Flag in a larger role is important).

In addition to the half-dozen Il-76 Russian tankers they already have, they are looking to expand their capabilities quite a bit and the US is trying to sell them on using US aircraft as their tankers.

As a matter of fact, even though the IAF just signed a deal with Russia for some new transport aircraft, this past summer they also inked a deal with the US to buy some fancy new C-130Js. The Indian Air Force Chief of Staff has also made it clear that future fighters need to have aerial refueling capabilities.

Even though the C-130Js are to be used for Indian special operations, the door is now open for the US, so hopefully some American companies can get in on India's military expansion. They've been upping their military buying almost in the double digits every year for several years now.

[sukhoi-30mki]

India will most certainly want to up it’s aerial refuelling capabilities,but the IL-78s are new(less than 5 years old,IIRC) & the IL-76 has been serving in India for 2 decades.So infrastructure won’t be a problem.About US products,well if the USAF is considering a European aircraft(the KC-30),you can’t push others to choose an American design!!!

[G8 Diplomat]

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