from:www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=84602


For Gorshkov, Navy pilots head to US for training



SHIV AROOR          


Posted online: Saturday, December 24, 2005 at 0142 hours IST



NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 23: By the time Russian-built aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov arrives in 2008, the Navy will have a contingent of 32 pilots, trained in specialised deck-based fighter operations at the US Navy training command in Pensacola, Florida.

With the first batch of four Lieutenant-rank officers are already under training there, the next is scheduled to go in March.

The selection of venue for training to operate Russian-built MiG-29K fighters off the Gorshkov may seem strange but the government was compelled to accept the Pentagon’s offer because Russia has no facilities for intermediate deck-based flight training. The US Navy training school in Pensacola trains Naval F/A-18 Super Hornet pilots.

The first batch of four at Pensacola, led by training coordinator and seasoned Harrier pilot, Cdr Rohit Gupta, is currently training on the T-45 Goshawk (a variant of the British Hawk AJT) single engine trainer after completing a capsule on the T-34 Turbomentor propeller trainer.

They are scheduled to begin actual deck-qualifying from January. All eight batches of four pilots each will spend six months at the training command in US.

After this, each batch of four pilots will be sent to Russia for training on the MiG-29K, 16 of which would be operated off the Gorshkov. The MiG-29K is likely to be an option for the Air Defence Ship (ADS) being built in Kochi as well, alongside the Naval version of the LCA Tejas. Operating conventional jets off carriers will be a first for the Navy—it has so far used only Harrier jump-jets.

Quoted: this is just the begining. Soon we will be outsourcing fighter pilots to india.

You can't have a nuclear Iran, Pakistan, India, Russia, and China, all wanting to be the big kid on the block.

Its like WWI all over again and they're all just getting thier ducks in a row before it starts.  

Quoted: You can't have a nuclear Iran, Pakistan, India, Russia, and China, all wanting to be the big kid on the block. Its like WWI all over again and they're all just getting thier ducks in a row before it starts.

from:www.janes.com/defence/naval_forces/news/jdw/jdw051216_1_n.shtml

Indian Navy strives for regional dominance

By Rahul Bedi JDW Correspondent
New Delhi

The Indian Navy has key plans for network-centric platforms, sensors and weapon systems to give it added "endurance, punch and capability", principally to secure sea lines of communication to ensure trouble-free energy imports for India's burgeoning requirements that are expected to double by 2010.

Over the next decade, the navy plans for a force structure of 140-145 vessels, of which more than half would be ocean-going and the remainder assigned coastal duties.

The fighting force of missile destroyers and frigates would be built around two carrier battle groups, supplemented by submarine and aviation assets and amphibious, mine countermeasure ships and auxiliary forces.

INS Vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov), the 44,570 ton Kiev-class aircraft carrier undergoing a refit at Russia's Sevmash shipyard, is due to enter service by 2008. Twenty MiG-29K multirole fighters - including four trainers and six to eight Ka-28 anti-submarine/ Ka-31 multipurpose helicopters - will make up the carrier's air group.

Beyond this, the navy began constructing a 37,500-ton carrier at Cochin Shipyard in April, for which INR32.61 billion (USD725 million) has so far been sanctioned. Known as the air-defence ship (ADS) it will be India's biggest indigenously built warship and will also operate 12 MiG-29K fighters.

Besides the ADS, the Indian Navy has 17 ships on order at its various dockyards. These include three Project 17 (P17) frigates being built at MDL, the first of which, INS Shivalik, is due for commissioning in March 2007, followed by INS Satpura, six months later and INS Sahyadri around mid-2008.

Training with other miltiarys around the world is the best way to ensure peace between those nations; joint training and operations lessen the chance these militarys will fight each other.

In this case we are working with both the Indians and the Pakistanis; the next step is three way cooperation and this lessens the chance of war in the region.

Considering that India and China have had border skirmishes, and China is the 800 pound gorilla in the neighborhood and want's to be the 1200 pound and ONLY gorilla on the block, it behooves us to improve and maintain good relations with the Indians.  Like it or not the PRC is on the horizon for both countries.

The PRC lost major face and was shown to be almost internationally impotent in the tsunami disaster .  The US was able to put task forces on scene in a few days, provide hospital facilities, helos, engineering  equipment, etc, .  The PRC a small amount of money and that was it.  So not only do they know they have a major military obstacle in the USN, they have minimal political influence.

So who would we rather have floating around with a task force or two in the area?  India or China?  yep, the Indians.

We have favored Pakistan over India for far too long.


India is a democracy, Pakistan is not.

Pakistan is Muslim, India is not.


Which would you be friends with...

Why not, we used to train Iranian pilots, we used to train German pilots, we have civilian contractors that train Dutch pilots.

Indians, Pakistanis, they both make great slushees though, I'll give them that.

A strong industrialized, modernized, and militarized democratic India would be a VERY good friend...

Quoted: We have favored Pakistan over India for far too long. India is a democracy, Pakistan is not. Pakistan is Muslim, India is not. Which would you be friends with...

Both. The Pakis can help us fight Islamofacism, and the Indians will probably be with us when war comes with China.

This must have the Chinese in a real huff... The Indians can allready sink every local navy in the region (that includes China's) - it would take a 1st-world power (eg US) to defeat them...

India now has another carrier - granted, it's a 1st generation Russian ski-jumper, but that's still one hell of a warship for a 'regional' power...

A side note on Kiev class carriers:

The 29Ks are intended as interceptors, not strike aircraft - one of the problems with ski-jump carriers is that without catapults it's harder to get heavy loads airborne...

The Kiev class (and Russian carriers in general, except the  the Adm K) are more accurately 'Aviation Cruisers', since the Russian solution to the payload issue is to load the ship up with a CG-sized arsenal of surface-to-surface anti-ship missiles... The fighters were to defend against US carrier aircraft, but the offensive power was to come from the task force's ship-based missile loadout... Further, the Kiev class was originally designed to carry Yak SVTOL fighters (Russian counterpart to the Harrier), so you can immagine what has to be done to get a CTOL fighter airborne off that thing...

Quoted: The Pakis can help us fight Islamofacism,

Most Pakistanis ARE Islamofascists.

Musharraff's government can't hold out forever; when it falls we'll have muslims with nukes and F-16s...

Quoted: Quoted: The Pakis can help us fight Islamofacism, Most Pakistanis ARE Islamofascists. Musharraff's government can't hold out forever; when it falls we'll have muslims with nukes and F-16s...

They have the nukes whether we help them or not, and the F16s in Paki hands would be relatively easy for US pilots to take care of. F117 w/ JDAMs+ F16s on the tarmac....