Free Republic

Russia will hand over the much-delayed INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier to India in November, giving the country's navy a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean region. The Vikramaditya aircraft carrier is to be handed over to the Indian Navy in November, 2013, head of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Alexander Fomin, said yesterday. "The ship is to be put in a dock in April, go on sea trials in June and July and be officially handed over some time in November," he said. The Vikramaditya was originally built as the Soviet Project 1143.4 class aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov....

Indian air force Chief of Air Staff N.A.K. Browne is visiting Israel, a sign of deepening Indian-Israeli defense ties. "This is a part of routine reciprocal visits between chiefs of various wings of the defense forces of the two countries," an Israeli Ministry of Defense official told The Times of India. "The visit underlines a very strong strategic relationship between the two countries where cooperation with India would probably rank only second to the United States." India is Israel's the largest purchaser of arms and equipment, with Israeli total defense equipment exports to India reaching $9 billion since 1997, The...