India Buys The Admiral Gorshkov: Accessories Included.

Link to the source:
"India buys Russian aircraft carrier"
www.abc.net.au...



Short article:

"Defence officials in India say the government has approved the purchase of a refurbished Russian aircraft carrier.

The deal - worth more than US$1 billion is expected to be signed this week, during a visit to India by the Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov.

The aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov, comes with MiG-29 combat jets and is capable of long-distance offensive operations.

It will take about four years to refit and will be a temporary replacement for an existing British-built carrier that is due for decommissioning.

Ananlysts say India aims to build its own aircraft carriers in less than a decade.

Until then, the Russian ship will greatly enhance the strike power of India's navy."


This is an interesting turn of events....
Questions:
* Does India have the assets to adequately support this vessel while at sea? I'm assuming they do.
* Does India understand the costs and the battle group protection that will also be needed and required? And again, I am assuming that they do.


From what I can gather, India has had two in the past and the only active remaining one is the Virrant:




Seems that the Indian Ocean remains one serious piece of real estate, eh? India is becoming a serious thorn in the side of China in the Asian Zone.



regards
seekerof

Great find SeekerOf!!!! I never saw this one coming. Su-27s and all? Amazing.

they've been trying to buy it for a while now, the reason the refit is going to take so long is they are basically completely rebuilding it into a more conventional aircraft career. They have succesfully operated their previous aircraft careers for years, Battle Group and all, they are just old and have needed replacing for a while

They are also trying to build an SSN

I wonder if this was the aircraft carrier that China had hoped to buy from Russia?

I also wonder how this could affect Indo-China relations with India having that kind of sea power in China's vicinity...

Thay are after all - not the most friendly of nieghbors...

[Edited on 18-1-2004 by intelgurl]

The Admiral Gorshkov is a Kiev class carrier. It is a smaller design that does not carry heavy fighters. It is designed for VSTOL, and helicopters. Other than this article I had not heard that it was capable of launching heavy jets such as the Mig stated.

More info on the class here:

www.fas.org...

I thought that Su-27s were launched from this carrier; not MiG-29s. Are both stored and launched from the Adm. Gorshkov?

I wonder if this was the aircraft carrier that China had hoped to buy from Russia?

That was the Kreml class Varyag which was a larger carrier capable of lauching Mig's, and such.



www.fas.org...

Great find.

On one hand, I think it is great that my country is becoming a superpower, on the other hand it is becomong more stupider.

The one thing they need right now is a revolution, not an aircraft carrier, don't even get started on why.

Note that if India tests a nuke, guess who does the same thing and vice versa. Now that India has bought a carrier, you know what is coming next, don't you?

Lets see,....nuclear weapons, couple of warships, a couple of tonne of gold,....Pakistan/China as neighbors,..

Doesnt appear to be preparing for peace, but then again they could be just keeping a minimum armorment requirement by upgrading to a newer model.

edit-added: Keep in mind also that India is a master of the outsourcing industry right now, I imagine that some country would be obligatory in providing maintenance services.

[Edited on 18-1-2004 by smirkley]

thats true. but they could be a good allie if china starts to # around in the region. after all they do have nukes and a means to deliver them. as for the aircraft carrier, a nimitz class carrier would rip that thing to pices

One thing is for sure, if a war breaks out between India and China, the only good thing is that people who are not affected directly by the war would have access to many resources and the world's population would decrease by a great number not seen since after the WW 2.

Hope we never get to that, cause you know who is going to be in the front line fighting whoever it is-- That is right, ME.

What in the world is my mother land thinking?

I dont see the reason for this? Why spend so much money on weapons of war?

Deep

What do you think U.S. and U.S.S.R were thinking when they were spending trillions on nukes, that is right, the same time our mother country is thinking right now!!

Mass produce and scare the enemy.

india also plans to buy tu-22m3 bombers.

The US won by being able to outspend the enemy (USSR).

That too.

U.S.S.R. didn't stand a chance from the beginning, with their type of system. It was only a matter of time for them to fall and let U.S. be the only superpower.

Now it it time for some other country to do the same time, outspend U.S.

I would guess that India will equip the carrier with Harriers and Sea King helicopters as they already have carrier experience, and support for these types.

I doubt the Russians have and old Yak's around to go with this ship.

no, it will have 28 MiG-29K's, and 6 Ka-31's. they were sold to india as a set along with the carrier.

those can total a Carrier battle group

In regards to India and China, the Indian Ocean and the Asian Zone.....I did a little cross referencing on other current events in relation to the 'Asian Zone' and ran across this article on Singapore's new stealth frigates, one of six, that were launched this month. Another "checked off box" against China's ambitions?

www.mindef.gov.sg...

Source:
"Navy Launches New Frigate"
Link:
www.mindef.gov.sg...

www.mindef.gov.sg...




regards
seekerof

[Edited on 18-1-2004 by Seekerof]