[sukhoi-30mki]

USS Kitty Hawk(CV-63)

[sukhoi-30mki]

The proposed INS Vikramaditya

[Freeport]

Even as late as the 1990s, the U.S. was pressuring India to surrender the Kashmir valley to Pakistan. At the same time the Clinton administration was covertly backing the jihadi elements that finally took power in Kabul in 1996 as the Taliban. Interestingly, as yet the U.S. Congress has not opened an enquiry into the 1994-96 policies that resulted in Osama bin Laden's patrons being given charge of Afghanistan, with consequences that have been disastrous for international security

This I'd like to see evidance of.

[Yo-Yo]

The Kitty Hawk would give the Indian Navy someplace to land their F/A-18s.

However, the Kitty Hawk would need a complete overhaul and rebuild, the cost of which the US doesn’t wish to bear, so why would the Indian Government wish to do so?

Refurbishing the former Admiral Gorshkov into the INS Vikramaditya is lesson enough for that.

[Zhang Fei]

Their efforts at downplaying the force multiplier effect of the U.S. carrier focus on its "obsolete" catapult technology and the expenses involved in a refit.

Actually, I think that is the primary argument against offering it to any other country out there. I don't think it's such a good idea to proliferate this technology. Handing the Kitty Hawk to India is tantamount to handing the steam catapult technology to Russia, which still hasn't mastered it yet (France is reputed to have problems still, despite having been gifted this technology by Uncle Sam).

[PAR35]

to maintain a 140-ship navy

140 ships for a one ocean navy sounds ok. The US trying to maintain a 3 ocean navy with 280 ships is not.

[Vroomfondel]

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[magslinger]

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[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.

[Gengis Khan]

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

[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.

[G8 Diplomat]

Pakistan ۋﮧ۱م

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