I see you’re posting links to comedy articles now. A hazy recollection of a telephone conversation with an unnamed person whose status is equally unknown but who’s supposed to be an American in a consulate in Brazil, & who admits that he’s relaying rumours . . . Come on, is this serious?

As I said, interesting reading. Which is not a reflection on the trustworthiness of the source. Then again, you can label anything comedy. Including … this forum.

BTW, Brazil didn’t buy ex-US Skyhawks then transition to Kuwaiti ones. The ex-Kuwait AF A-4s are the only ones Brazil has ever owned.

Oops, confused there with Argentinian jets, but that country replaced its A-4Q Skyhawks with French-built Dassault-Breguet Super Étendards and flew those of the Brazilian carrier.

Meanwhile, what BETTER alternative does Brazil have?

Those Kuwaiti A-4s had no carrier landings before being bought by Brazil, & fewer flight hours, or years of use, than USN F-18C/Ds have now. They’ve not had anything like the intensity of use of USN F-18s since being bought by Brazil.

YEt, thats why I mentioned them.

The post which prompted this specifically referred to the possibility of ex-US F-18C/Ds (not F-18s operated by other countries) being retired earlier than scheduled & sold to Brazil.

And indeed that was what I was initially referring to (and still am, using US jets to get started on this type)

BTW, the F-18A/Bs out there will all have more flight hours than the ex-Kuwaiti A-4s. The Australian ones needed major work to keep them flying until F-35 arrives, because the airframes were worn out. Carrier use? Not a chance!

Did I suggest using A/Bs?

So here we are, you summarizing my suggestion exactly. What would keep Brazil from acquiring Kuwaiti F/A18s eventually? In the meantime, they can use other source (read: US) F/A-18s to get started on the type. That is exactly how they did it with the A4s…. don’t see why they can’t do that again. It is not as if the ex-US jets would see an intensive use in Brazilian service …

Not really.

RAH-66 Commanche got cancelled and replaced by much cheaper and much less capable UH-72. In fact same thing happened to YAH-56 Cheyenne. B-2 and F-22 procurement was also seriously curtailled.

And from a naval perspective it happened to Enterprise class carriers – 6 planned, 1 built. Other 5 were cancelled and they acquired more Kitty Hawk class .

USN has already started building new Arleigh Burkes in place of Zumwalts. Apparently they’ll probably stilll be building Arleigh Burkes (Flight IV) into the 2030s.

Ah, but will flight IV be the same old same old? There is expectations that a Flight IV would follow later with technologies from DDG-1000/Zumwalt.

A new image ….

If the red paint is indicative of waterline,… this sit rather low in the water for a carrier. Looks like 7 decks, at compared to e.g. 9 for QE. Perhaps a test vessel for catapults? Strange the catapult is paralellel to the centre line: would have expected it to be canted outwards (if a waist/flank cat rather than a bow cat).

“INS Vikramaditya will serve Navy for 30 years” Rear Admiral Madhusudanan declined to comment on reports about the carrier bracing for induction without a close-in-weapon system (CIWS) or missile defence. “Yes, there are certain issues there,” was how he put it. The AK-630 CIWS is slated for integration aboard the Vikramaditya in a year or so

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ins-vikramaditya-will-serve-navy-for-30-years/article4996525.ece

Mmm, that’s kind of minimal. I expect Barak will eventually be taken from INS Viraat when she retires, and reinstalled on Vikramaditya.

A US Navy With Only 8 Carriers?

The fleet of legacy F/A-18 Hornet aircraft – mostly C models — could be swiftly retired, leaving an all-Super Hornet fleet of Es and Fs

… might be of interest to Brazil, to reequip its ex-French carrier with the F/A-18Cs. Could also be of interest to smaller airforces?