Novosti: Arguments for completing modernization of the Admiral Gorshkov (http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080227/100165793.html)
MOSCOW. (Military commentator Nikita Petrov for RIA Novosti) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in India Tuesday amid rumors that he is to offer the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk as a sweetener if New Delhi buys 65 Boeing Super Hornet fighters...........
Front Page:The Carrier Cold War (http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=CB618DB9-3847-4567-9A8E-7EC941FFDC53)
Beijing - If current rumors in India are true, the United States could end up providing India what its traditional Russian arms supplier has long promised to provide, but so far failed to deliver. In the process the United States could deliver a severe blow to Russia's defense industry, adding another item to the long list of grievances Russian officialdom has lodged against the United States........
wessex19
27th Feb 2008, 22:58
I thought Kitty Hawk was promised to a museum
GreenKnight121
28th Feb 2008, 01:18
1. http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080042366
According to the sources, under the new deal that was hammered out over the weekend, India will pay more for the aircraft carrier.
But in return, the Russians will put in several new parts instead of repairing them as agreed upon in the original contract.
The aircraft carrier was to be delivered by August this year according to a contract signed in 2004 but Russia stunned India in November by demanding more money.
Russia had asked for $ 1.2 billion more for refitting and other works.
NDTV learnt over the weekend that India and Russia agreed on a new deal that will hopefully see the carrier with the Indian navy by 2012.
Now, India will pay possibly up to 800 million dollars more than the original price of 1.2 billion dollars.
For the extra money, the Russians have now agreed to:
Put in a new arrester gear for the planes
Build a new ski jump for the MiG-29 planes
Install new boilers in the engine room
And lay new cables, estimated at 2,400 km
How much extra India will pay will be decided in March after two more rounds of negotiations take place.
Top Indian Navy officers say even if India pays additional 700-800 million dollars for the new Gorshkov, it will still be worth the cost since a new carrier will cost more than Four billion dollars.
2. http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/28kitty.htm
United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is visiting India, on Thursday denied that he has come with an offer to give India the aging US aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. Speaking to a select group of journalists over breakfast in New Delhi, he brushed aside the speculation, saying, "Even I have heard about the rumour."
In the last couple of days, there were reports in the Western media that the US would offer Kitty Hawk to India. One weekly even reported, "When US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visits New Delhi late in February, he will be carrying a signed letter from President George W Bush, offering a better deal for India than the one they have been struggling to get out of Moscow for four years now."
But, Gates flatly denied that the Kitty Hawk has been offered to India.
The weekly speculated that the Indian Navy would reportedly be offered the soon-to-be decommissioned USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) aircraft carrier for free -- provided it agrees to purchase 65 of the newest model Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to be operated off it.
So, Kitty Hawk was never on offer, and ex-Gorky will be completed for India.
However, I detect a lot of spin here:
Put in a new arrester gear for the planes
As she never had them in the first place, they were already going to be new.
Build a new ski jump for the MiG-29 planes
As she had no ski jump, this also was already going to be new.
Install new boilers in the engine room
New boilers were already planned, and a 9th is being built into a trainer for the IN technicians.
And lay new cables, estimated at 2,400 km
The ship was already going to be rewired heavily, but this might refer to those cables/wires that were to be left in place.