“If you can find me a warship of this kind for under $2-billion, I will write you a cheque.” That’s Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta on the freshly contentious acquisition of the Admiral Gorshkov/INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier. At a seminar this morning on self-reliance for the Navy, the Admiral also stoutly defended against the CAG’s indictment that the Navy had not worked out a proper risk analysis as far as the acquisition of the Gorshkov was concerned. He said, “That is simply out of the question. We had been looking at this acquisition since the early 1990s. One of our officers [former Deputy Chief Vice Admiral SV Gopalachari], as you know, died in harness working on this acquisition.“Navy Chief Keeps Gorshkov Afloat
“If you can find me a warship of this kind for under $2-billion, I will write you a cheque.” That’s Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta on the freshly contentious acquisition of the Admiral Gorshkov/INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier. At a seminar this morning on self-reliance for the Navy, the Admiral also stoutly defended against the CAG’s indictment that the Navy had not worked out a proper risk analysis as far as the acquisition of the Gorshkov was concerned. He said, “That is simply out of the question. We had been looking at this acquisition since the early 1990s. One of our officers [former Deputy Chief Vice Admiral SV Gopalachari], as you know, died in harness working on this acquisition.“
$2 billion sh**load
how come that you didn't comment on the irony of the fact that the two principal sponsors of a seminar on self-reliance were Raytheon and Thales:-)
$2 billion sh**load
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stupid comment
or you want to say admiral knows nothing
Hi everybody!
It is $1.8 billion, actually. It was negotiated @ $1.6 bln originally, including the price of the MiG-29K/KUB contract (nearly $800 mln I think… tell me if I'm wrong). It has been a package deal.
So Gorshkov price "only" swelled by $200mln @ $1bln… it could have been worst!
Remember, the medias talked about $2,9bln a few weeks ago. Mistake.
I'm not an expert in this field, but $1bln for such an asset, that's not a so bad deal. No?
Have a nice day! 😉
@ Shiv…….
wats the current status abt the rusty floating vintage (wat they call cheap and mighty)…..do we get some latest pics of that 'RELIC'
with regards
Vijoy VJ
Mr Nanda was still alive then 🙂
Its not just the money. Even without mentioning the inflating cost or the delays, the mistake-prone Russians jury-rigged a bunch of systems into this ship in a ship class it doesn't even use in a ship yard that is known for malfeasance and shoddy quality, and does not have best practices for the training and use of the equipment or experience in running this ship.
BUILT BY AMATEURS FOR AMATEURS. Its like having a website made in Pakistan for a 'investment bank' without an address but with a PO Box. It'll crash and made everyone look bad.
Get the Kittyhawk for free, spend a billion to the experts in the US doing it up as a training carrier, its size will allow large numbers of aviators and crewmen to pass through at once, and train under the Americans who have taken carriers to the ends of the earth. Hell, even the Indian Mig-29UK pilots are already training in the US, why not do it properly.
I don't really see much difference between Pakistanis and Indians, the rank culture of sticking to the familiar is so common.
I would trust the Navy chief. If he says okay, then buy it. We have to trust our best people, there's no reason to doubt the integrity of the Navy chief.
Vincent>>> Get the Kittyhawk for free
Didn't know the Americans were handing away free aircraft carriers. Where do I get one? Would look nice in my backyard. 😀
I don't really see much difference between Pakistanis and Indians, the rank culture of sticking to the familiar is so common.
Perhaps as the resident genius here, you have a solution to the problem?
Of course Gorshkov is a good "investment". It has paid millions of dollars into overseas accounts of a lot of people. As long as it has a fresh paint on the outside, the ???? can be fooled into thinking that the ship is great. I mean, it is not as if cowardly traitor ???? will ever go to war. Ship will never see combat, so get the cheapest most useless POS as an excuse to loot the taxpayer.
Scumbags.
The Naval Chief is right, we have to put up with Russian incompetence as despite the cost escalation and delays, this is still the best deal in town. In fact the only deal available for us. The Kitty Hawk was never on offer to India. Unthinkable that US would ever give to India such a huge war fighter and force multiplier. Just a wet dream of little boys refusing to grow up. We are stuck with the Gorshkov and the Naval Chief knows it. Atlaest till we start making our own A/Cs.
We should go with what the Navy chief says, but we should be careful with the Russians from now on. They can't be trusted anymore.
To my mind, proposed or not, the Kitty Hawk is not a good deal. If you really want it, so…
– cancel or re-think the LCA Naval that has been conceived to take-off from a sky-jump
– cry for the money spent in MiG-29K/KUB ($750-800mln), i.e. the approximative price of a refit for the Kitty Hawk… a shame…
– built new dry docks in an Indian shipyard when you need to overhaul the hull of such an aircraft-carrier
– double your efforts to convince neighboring countries you are not a manservant of the US
– prepare a big purse full of patches. As one say: "it is in the oldest pots we make the best soups"… but do not exagerate.
And do not forget: when you buy the Gorshkov, you do a charity action. Indeed, you allow a country that has never buit its aircraft-carriers itself to integrate a new know-how that will allow it to build its own new fleet. Maybe we can say that the Gorshkov is a kind of Christmas tree for the Russians… a small one, because India has some quite good negotiators.
Whatever we can say, I think the Gorshkov is a good deal allowing India to reinforce its naval power with a massive and pertinent asset, before launching a full indigenous ship.
Get the Kittyhawk for free, spend a billion to the experts in the US doing it up as a training carrier
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hopeless fellow,
when american can't even give trenton for free and thinking of
kitty hawk for free to india?must be day dreaming or US is ur unkil for sure
Despite all the cost escalation, if the Navy Chief says that rusting junk notwithstanding its new coat of paint is a good investment, all those involved, especially the Ruskies would be very pleased and might even send him a crate or two of vodka!
But the fact is the refurbishment and installation of critical systems and sea trials are still a few years away. No clear date has been asigned to hand over the carrier to the IN. What is more perplexing is the final cost has not been fixed.
The on-going price negotiations is being coupled to the lease of one/two Akula submarines which should not be the case. Under such a scenario the Ruskies could arm-twist the GOI to pay out more and more.
Is the aircraft carrier such an absolute necessacity for Indian security? Is it in the Indian psyche to show the world that it is THE SUPER POWER around the Indian Ocean even if it does not add considerably to its defence?
Why not expedite the building of the indigenous AC at Cochin? Why not place an order for a brand new carrier with countries with the knowhow such as Ukraine where the Gorshkow was built? For the money being demanded by the Ruskies, the Ukrainians might be able to build a new "Gorshkow" in a reasonably short period considering that they have the requisite knowhow.
This might be another way of not putting all the eggs in ONE basket.
Is there any way that we can get back the hundreds of millions which we have invested in the Gorshkov, in case the Navy decides to reject the the rusting carrier???
Old Indian bureaucracy… allegation over allegation, Scam over Scam…nothing is going to change…
Congress is saying Kargil war is BJP's war, Admiral Gorshkov is scarp brought by BJP. BJP accuses Congress for Nuclear Deal, Scorpion, Bofors deals etc. Guys nothing is going to change in India.
Indian bureaucracy is slow acquisition and building weapons but, not US or UK guys watch out for New roll out Photo of F-35C SEA LIGHTNING II US Carrier based aircraft.
http://air-ace.blogspot.com/
The on-going price negotiations
What "negotiations" my dear sir, please enlighten the rest of us? Pardon the crudeness in your blog Shiv, but what negotiation power does a whore hold when she is bent over and getting fucked hard by a 'customer'? Our dumbass babus and netas bend over to US/ Russia/ Pakistan/ Madagascar even before first 'encounter'. How on earth do you negotiate with such spinelessness and cowardice?
Of course the whore analogy is wrong. A whore gets paid to take it up the ass. We on the other hand pay others to fuck us up the ass. The mind boggles. We would be better as dogs of the british, still the same slave mindset of past centuries just look at how every idiot is jumping with joy because US 'named' us as their ideal ally.
In the range of 2 billion, Fincantieri could have delivered a new carrier. May be they should just take up the Admiral's offer!
@ Anonymous (2:23)
Nice comments!! LMAO!!!!
I would any day blindly accept and believe what our esteemed Navy Chief says rather than even spend one minute listening to you adults complain and complain all day long like sissy kids. Grow up for God's sake!
– Capt Karan Singh Randhawa.
I would love to see further updates to the progress on the makeover of the INS Vikramaditya. Cost/pricing, age and diplomacy apart, it will be the flag ship of the navy for years to come. It will project India's rise to the global stage.