Quote:
Originally Posted by Cactus
Josh,
Indian Navy was given an aircraft carrier a few decades before it was really ready for it. I believe India started the process to buy its first A/C even before it had an Indian Admiral: There are many open-source opinions from senior Indian Navy officers expressing dismay at that elephantine purchase forced on gullible Indian politicos by the British Admiral-on-loan at that time to pay off Britain's sterling debts. But the British had also taught IM an even more important lesson in dealing with civvie politicos "if you are getting screwed and can't help it, enjoy it". So Indian Navy apparently set about trying to build up its resume by gaining valuable experience in a position it was not really ready to be in. For such a small and relatively new Navy, IN is remarkably mature because of that experience.
(where indeed the threat is much greater).
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True, but it did a remarkably good job with the Vikrant, in the only Naval war India fought - Bangaldesh '71.
The IN was also able to integrate Hermes & the Sea Harriers into its fleet fairly fast.
India is not in the Market for `a few 40,000 T CV's. There are delays with the Groshkov, but I think it was (and is) the best option for the IN at that point of time. There is also a certain comfort level with the hybrid of Russian and Indian electronics and ECM systems & Misiles (incl Brahmos).