US Aircraft Carrier Launching Gears Meant For Saudi Arabia Mysteriously Found In India

US Aircraft Carrier Launching Gears Meant For Saudi Arabia Mysteriously Found In India

Two military-grade aircraft launching gears meant for ‘Royal Saudi Land Forces’ have illegally landed at a private port in Kutch district of Gujarat through Pakistan, sending security forces into a tizzy.

The load — ‘military grade’ aircraft launching gears — were, intriguingly, not declared on two containers in which they were stuffed and packed aboard Kyoto Express ship at a New York port on November 8.

The containers were shown as ’empty’. But when customs officers at Mundra port opened them on Friday, they found aircraft launching gears – essentially used in aircraft carriers to assist takeoff of jets from the deck. Security sources said the military-grade aircraft launching gears found at the Mundra port are manufactured by only two corporate giants, Boeing (based in the US) and Airbus (headquartered in Europe).

www.zerohedge.com...

a reply to: Masisoar

Sanjay Agarwal, principal commissioner of customs for Mundra port, said, “Before reaching to any conclusion I would not like to reach to any conclusion whether it’s a mischief or something else due to sensitivities involved.” Sources stated that earlier there have been a few cases where Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and a few corporate companies ordered spare parts and even machines from the US and these went missing and were never traced. Earlier on May 10th, 2019 at around 4pm, the Indian Air Force radars detected an Antonov AN-12 aircraft crossing into Indian airspace from an unauthorized point near Gujarat.

I just bolded the stuff sticking out to me.

Interest piqued.

Not gonna name names, but I'm gonna hazard a guess that Schmina wanted a look at our parts to copy for their carriers.

The real question is, how did they get the parts in the first place?

a reply to: Masisoar

#weirdnews

a reply to: Masisoar

I can't think of any reason these parts would have been bound for Saudi Arabia. There's nothing that launches from land that would require them. We are however providing extensive support to India for their next aircraft carrier, including help with the nuclear reactors for it.

I can't find a photo of any of these launching gears so it's hard to speculate what's so special about them that makes them worth smuggling... Could SA be reselling them to china for metallurgy R&D purposes?

a reply to: Zaphod58

www.deccanherald.com...

Now that you said that. Here's an article.

Just odd that it would of been sneaked in like that.

“It would be a 65,000 tonnes ship with conventional propulsion and CATOBAR (catapult-based aircraft launch system) facility. The construction would start within the next three years and take seven to ten years for completion,” the Navy Chief said in ... Read more at: www.deccanherald.com...

a reply to: grey580

They've been working on the design for close to three years. They had engineering teams in the US a couple years ago looking at reactors and working with the USN.

a reply to: Zaphod58

That's pretty cool.

I wonder how their carrier will turn out.

Maybe someone at Boeing has a part supply side hustle going.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Purchased through Saud for India, to skirt export controls?

Me thinks they reached the intended destination, at least for one party.

a reply to: Ohanka

More likely smuggled because of the fact that Indian procurement is the only one I've ever seen worse than US procurement.

military-grade aircraft launching gears.

Are these by any chance better than them consumer graded aircraft launching gears promoted at my local hardware store I can't seem to find reviews on?

I wonder if we're not suffering a translation problem, and we're talking about a form of arresting gear. Which the Saudis could conceivably be ordering and using, and any number of people may be interested in...
A reporter or translator makes a small layman mistake after hearing "like on a carrier" from a source, perhaps?

Eyebrow raising either way.

Forgive my utter ignorance, but what is a..."launching gear"???

I thought I understood how steam CATs worked, but I guess I'm clueless.

ETA - Some kind of helical gear which mechanically assists the CAT? I don't understand.

a reply to: Masisoar

Logistic screw ups do happen, or the Air Force could have been tracking the shipment to see where it ended up, for an investigation.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

There's a mechanical shuttle that's part of the catapult. There's a cable system that attaches to it to pull it back after every launch, to reset it for the next launch. If you watch the few videos below deck of cat launches you'll see the rotating portion pulling the shuttle back after the launch.

Like when the USAF found a couple of wharehouses they didnt know they had?

a reply to: Blackfinger

That was the Navy, so this is on par for them.

a reply to: grey580
Boeing and Airbus would sell their tech to
China secretly for enough money. China has no need to steal anything.