US to sell sell six E-2C Hawkeye 2000 to india

check this out :

www.bharat-rakshak.com...

Impressive that India is going for a Western style carrier group as opposed to following the Russians who they buy most of their equipment off of, carrier and naval fighters included. It should be interesting to see how they preform after they get used to this capability.

Just one question to any Indian friends out there.

Why does India need Carrier Fleets?

Does it have a strategic purpose, or is it just for pride?

The "carrier" dilemma of the Indian Navy has been an arguement for ages within India and obv outisde it it as well..

Main reason is to patrol the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and the Indian ocean where it is challenged only by the USN.. These three water bodies have resource wells that have been discovered and also yet to be discovered..
Also India woud like to project its influence into SE Asia ( Malacca Straits) which is the most vital choke point of trade traffic in the world..
Also Islands like the Andamans which are over 1000 miles off the Indian mailand are sovereign indian territory..Lakshwadeep is 500 km of the mainland..while Mauritius is heavily influenced by India along with the Maldives and Seychelles..
Again the Americans dont seem to keen to pick a fight with the Indians and AS OF NOW the Indians are content with the american ops at diego Garcia..
partly because it serves as a counter and intel co-op for incresing chinese presence in the Indian Ocean which is developing around :
Gawdar,Pakistan
Coco Islands, Burma..
and Africa..

Now the countries which DONT need a carrier and have em' are Peru and Thailand

Peru doesn't have a CV, I think you are thinking of Brazil.

Thailand mainly uses their carrier for disaster relief efforts & the like I believe, she spends most of her time in port.

Originally posted by rapier28
Just one question to any Indian friends out there.

Why does India need Carrier Fleets?

Does it have a strategic purpose, or is it just for pride?

During the 1971 Indo-Pak war, the US sent one of it's carriers towards India in an ostensible show of support for Pakistan. Indians never forgot that incident. One of the main drivers is indeed pride and the desire to be never caught unawares again.

On a different note, I heard that the Russians had the carrier tailed by their subs all along and warned the Americans that any interference could bring Russia into the war.

Originally posted by RedBaron

Originally posted by rapier28
Just one question to any Indian friends out there.

Why does India need Carrier Fleets?

Does it have a strategic purpose, or is it just for pride?

During the 1971 Indo-Pak war, the US sent one of it's carriers towards India in an ostensible show of support for Pakistan. Indians never forgot that incident. One of the main drivers is indeed pride and the desire to be never caught unawares again.

On a different note, I heard that the Russians had the carrier tailed by their subs all along and warned the Americans that any interference could bring Russia into the war.

Well, if you remember US sent 2 carrier fleets outside Taiwan (Clinton Admin) but China has still reservations about a Carrier fleet.