asok ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
:
: In any case I don't think it is the intention or the design that
: India builds the delivery system for its nuclear capability.
:


   http://www.siliconindia.com/shownewsdata.asp?newsno=16512&newscat=Top
   India, Russia close to deal on aircraft carrier

  "IANS

   Tuesday, August 20, 2002

   NEW DELHI: India and Russia are moving closer to finalizing a
   long-pending deal on the sale of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier
   with the Indian Navy chief expected to inspect the warship.

   Admiral Madhvendra Singh, who began a weeklong visit to Russia Monday,
   is scheduled to visit Severodvinsk to inspect the 44,000-tonne
   aircraft carrier that Russia has offered to India for the cost of its
   refit.

   With one of its aircraft carriers decommissioned in 1997 and the only
   other in its fleet having undergone a midlife refit that will keep it
   operational till about 2010, Singh has said the Indian Navy is looking
   for replacements.

   The Indian Navy wants at least three aircraft carriers in its fleet.
   To achieve this, it plans to acquire the Gorshkov, which was retired
   from the Russian Navy in 1994, and build an indigenously designed
   smaller aircraft carrier.

   Russia has already submitted a report on refurbishing the Gorshkov and
   equipping it with MiG-29K fighters, a package that is estimated to
   cost $700 million. The warship is likely to be delivered only three
   years after a contract is signed.

   Indian defense ministry sources said Moscow is keen to close the deal
   when President Vladimir Putin visits India in December. The two sides
   had signed a memorandum in 1998 under which Russia agreed to supply
   the Gorshkov for the cost of its refit.

   The sources said other matters that are likely to figure in Singh's
   discussions with Russian military officials are leasing of two
   nuclear-submarines and four Tu-22M3 nuclear-capable long-range bombers
   for the Indian Navy.

   The Indian Navy had earlier operated a leased Russian Charlie-class
   nuclear-powered submarine during 1988-1991. Singh is also scheduled to
   visit St Petersburg to inspect two Krivak-class stealth frigates --
   Talwar and Trishul -- built there for the Indian Navy. The warships
   are undergoing final trials before their delivery to India.

   Russia was expected to deliver Talwar in July but its induction into
   the Indian Navy has been put off till September due to snags in
   integrating its weapons systems, including the Club cruise missile.
   Trishul is likely to be delivered at the end of this year. A third
   Krivak-class frigate ordered by India is currently being built at the
   Baltiisky Zavod shipyard.

   Singh, who is visiting at the at the invitation of his Russian
   counterpart Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, will also make a trip to
   Severomorsk, the headquarters of the Russian Northern Command and the
   base for the Russian Navy's nuclear arm.

   Russia, which supplies almost 75 percent of the military hardware used
   by India's armed forces, is also in negotiations with New Delhi for
   supplying the advanced Amur-class submarines. The deal is expected to
   involve the transfer of technology for the licensed manufacture of the
   submarines in India."

--Jerry Leslie   (my opinions are strictly my own)
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