My guess also… unless it is a gasket (o-ring), or other hydraulic fitting or such.

Kick your AF for incompetence. The AF has to force the own aviation industry to seek foreign help in time and to accept an interim engine. If you need another billion for that, you have to cut the number of fighters accordingly.

Ummm… I was under the impression that it was the Indian National Government, NOT industry, that was insisting on the “100% home-designed/built” aspect.

Last I heard, the Indian National Government still controlled (and gave orders to) the Indian Air Force!

Have you somehow heard differently?

Well, I just Google’d it, and got:
“Your search for “Fairey ER.103B” returned no results.”

So, could you explain a bit more… like: was it WW1… ‘tween wars, WW2, early jet*?

Land or carrier… etc.

*As the Fairey name went away in 1960 (courtesy of Wastelands), it can’t be after that… can it?

I said I was guessing, ok. What I had seen on KD said she got the same catapults as the Majestics that were modified for Australia, Canada, & India.

So, why did KD get a longer catapult than Melbourne, Bonaventure, or Vikrant?

I have seen their photos and drawings, and theirs are definitely shorter than that on KD/25deMayo.

Yes, Melbourne & Bonaventure were nearly finished with their modernizations when KD began hers, so maybe the extended-length version wasn’t available yet, but Vikrant was done afterwards… did the UK just not want India to have it?

To pry Indian major equipment procurals away from Russia?

You bet!

Probably be difficult, though… the attractiveness of Gorshkov was her physical youth… commissioned 1987, decommissioned 1996.

10 years of service, and 8 years resting before work started.

Kittw Hawk (still in better shape than Kennedy): commissioned 1961… 47 years of service by her planned decommissioning in the summer of 2008. Yes she received a 2½ year-long SLEP (Service Life Extension Program) overhaul from the end of 1987 to the middle of 1990, but that was only designed to add 15 years to her useful life… and that was up 2 years ago. 😉

All the other old supercarriers have been stripped to keep Kitty and Kenny operational… and remember, although Kenny was comissioned in 1968, and served 39 years, she never got a SLEP (just a couple of lesser overhauls), and thus is in much worse condition.

Either would require a full rebuilding/replacement of their boilers & turbines, and major work throughout to continue for the 15+ years required to justify the expense of the work.

If, on the other hand, India wished to just lease Kitty for 5 years or so (until the first ADS comissions), much less work would be required (~ 1 year)… and a “complex overhaul” (~18-20 months) would see her through to the completion of a second ADS (if it is started by 2010)… but barely.

If the US does a “work plus F/A-18E/F gets chosen for MRCA” deal… then the US Congress would approve… but since Indi would be unwilling to go that route again, I doubt it could be done.

But then, they seem real happy with their experience with the “hot transfer” from the USN of the 36-year-old LPD-14 Trenton, and this would be a similar deal for a similarly-aged ship (taking into account the SLEP), and far less work would be needed, so…

The C11-1 installed on Coral Sea had a shuttle run of ~ 215ft and a length of ~240ft.

The C13 on DeGualle has a shuttle run of 75m (246ft) and a length of 270ft.

Coral Sea operated F/A-18As just fine from those C11-1s, so that would be all you need to fit.

And one who didn’t… but for the intervention of a virus.
And a less-famous one who didn’t due to the flip of a coin.

Waylon Jennings.
He had been touring with Buddy Holly, Richie Valens (Ricardo Valenzuela), “The Big Bopper” (J.P. Richardson), and Tommy Allsup (Waylon & Tommy were backup musicians).

They were to travel on their bus, but it had developed problems with its heater. Disgusted with the cold bus, and because Richardson had developed a fever, they chartered a single-engined aircraft… a Beechcraft Bonanza. There wasn’t room for everyone, and Waylon told Richardson “go ahead, I’ll ride the bus”.

Allsup and Valens flipped a coin for the remaining seat, and Valens “won”.

Waylon & Allsup, thinking they had got the worse deal, got on the bus, along with Dion and the Belmonts.

Shortly after takeoff into a snowstorm, the Beech crashed, killing all aboard.

Many know of Waylon Jennings, but Allsup became a producer, working with many big names in music.

Well, if it needs some aerodynamic redesign… maybe a little fuselage work too?

Viola… LCAmod1/F414 😀